Trump cemented his shift in posture toward the 28-nation military alliance as he stood alongside its leader at the White House on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump has signed the USA approval for Montenegro to join NATO, following the majority vote in the Senate to ratify the small Balkan state's accession to the trans-Atlantic alliance in March.
"Stoltenberg is touting NATO's benefits at a joint press conference with President Donald Trump at the White House".
President Donald Trump says the U.S.is "not getting along with Russian Federation at all" and relations between the two global powers are at an "all-time low".
Trump had repeatedly questioned the value of the alliance and made overtures to Russian Federation during his presidential campaign. And now they do fight terrorism.
"I said it was obsolete, it's no longer obsolete". "It's no longer obsolete".
HORSLEY: Now, battling terrorism is not exactly new for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Its involvement in that war came after the United States invoked NATO's Article 5, the provision calling for collective defense, after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
The U.S. Senate backed Montenegro's bid to join the alliance last month.
Trump seems dazzled by being able to bomb Syria over dessert
But after last week's chemical weapons attack, the administration was more critical of Russia's role in propping up Assad. Trump said Tillerson had completed a successful meeting with Putin, where "things went pretty well".
HORSLEY: This is still a persistent complaint for the president.
Trump has long insisted the USA carries too much of the burden within the defense collective, and had angrily lambasted other nations for not spending sufficient amounts on defense. Right now, only five of the alliance members meet that target.
HORSLEY: Now, for comparison, the United States spends something over 3 percent of GDP on defense.
HORSLEY: The president was asked about that and said it's possible Russian Federation was not aware but not likely.
His comments, aired Wednesday on Fox Business News, come less than a week after Trump ordered a retaliatory strike on Syria based on USA evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad attacked civilians with chemical weapons. But he said in the Journal interview that he supports the bank, which helps USA exporters by making and guaranteeing loans. Just the USA and a handful of other countries are meeting the target.
Trump acknowledged that Americas relationship with Russian Federation "may be at an all-time low". Tillerson told reporters the two countries have reached a "low point" in relations in the aftermath of a chemical attack in Syria. This has built for a long period of time.
"We're going to rebuild out military". Separately, the president gave an interview to The Wall Street Journal today in which he said the United States will not be labeling China a currency manipulator, backtracking on something he had often promised during the presidential campaign.
And Trump says in an interview with Fox Business News that solving the standoff with North Korea isn't "as simple as people would think". What is true is that China has not been artificially depressing its currency for some time now, so Trump's change in position is really just catching up with economic reality.
Comments