President Donald Trump is meeting with German leader Angela Merkel this week to discuss everything from the global economy to the fight against ISIS, and he is expected to use the meeting to pressure her to “share the burden” on the subject of NATO.
Trump previously said NATO is ‘obsolete’
Trump once made history when he shrugged off NATO as “obsolete,” but Merkel is a big supporter of it. She makes a strong case for its importance in the increasingly tumultuous political conditions in Europe, especially with Vladimir Putin looking to expand his influence.
Senior US officials are saying that NATO will be a subject of high priority when Trump and Merkel meet on Tuesday. One administration official says that Trump will use the meeting to pressure Merkel to “share the burden” with regards to NATO. The nameless official says that Trump “believes that all allies must share the burden of NATO spending, and he is heartened that the German Government is committed to spending two per cent of GDP.”