FRANCE/NATO/SPENDING/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “French President Emmanuel Macron has rejected a claim by US President Donald Trump that NATO allies had agreed to increase defense spending ‘at levels that they never thought of before.’ At the end of a two-day NATO summit in Brussels, Macron referred reporters to the communique released Wednesday, which recommitted members of the alliance to a 2014 pledge to spent 2% of national GDP on defense by 2024…At an unscheduled press conference earlier in the day, Trump declared that all NATO members had ‘agreed to substantially up their commitment,’ a claim that is largely not in dispute…During the course of the two-day summit, Trump has repeatedly pushed NATO allies to increase their spending on defense, at times suggesting the target should be doubled to 4% of GDP. But while there was no agreement to change the 2% target — which many NATO countries have yet to meet — officials said Trump had brought new urgency to the issue.”
-Judith Vonberg,Macron rejects Trump’s claim on NATO defense spending commitments,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, July 12, 2018 11:48 am