Tillerson to push NATO on defense spending

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will push NATO “very hard” on defense spending at the military alliance’s meeting in Brussels this week, a senior State Department official said Tuesday.

Tillerson “will be pushing President Trump’s agenda … to get the allies to renew their commitment through increased resources for NATO’s defense spending,” the official said, speaking to reporters on background.

The official called it “essential” that allies honor the commitment, made at a NATO summit in 2014, to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense, with 20 percent of that being spent on investment in capabilities and military equipment.

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Tillerson will push all allies to have a plan to get to the 2 percent goal before 2024, the existing NATO timeline, the State Department official said. The official would not say what would happen if NATO members did not meet the alliance-agreed timeline.

Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO and argued member nations do not spend enough to support it.

Defense Secretary James Mattis told lawmakers last week that NATO does not calculate “past money owed” after Trump claimed in tweets earlier this month that Germany owed “vast sums of money” to the alliance.

Only five countries, including the U.S., meet the goal of spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense.

“President Trump, Secretary Tillerson and Secretary Mattis, Vice President Pence are all pushing allies to do more faster. Absolutely no apology for that. They will be doing that quite openly,” the official said.

Tillerson will also press for allies to increase their role in the fight against terrorism and will consult with leaders about the “shared commitment to improve the security situation in eastern Ukraine, and the need for NATO to continue to push Russia to end its aggression against its neighbors, and to fulfill the Minsk commitments with regard to Ukraine.”

Tillerson was initially not going to attend the meeting with foreign ministers from 28 NATO member nations, originally scheduled for April 5–6, due to a scheduling issue. NATO accommodated Tillerson by switching the date to March 31.

The huddle comes ahead of a NATO leaders meeting in late May in Brussels, which Trump is slated to attend.