Trump: If NATO members don't pay, I won't defend them

(Patria) - President Donald Trump on Thursday renewed doubts about his commitment to the NATO alliance, saying countries that do not spend enough on their military do not deserve defense, AFP reported.

"If they don't pay, I won't defend them," he told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump has often questioned whether the United States, by far the largest military power in the transatlantic alliance and the ultimate guarantor of Europe's security since World War II, should continue to play a central role in NATO. The Republican, who began his second term in January, has doubled down on his criticism that some NATO members do not spend enough on their defense budgets and rely too much on the United States.

"They should be paying more," he said.

Trump was responding to reporters after NBC News reported earlier on Thursday that he was considering a plan to calibrate U.S. military support in a way that favors member countries that spend a larger portion of their GDP on defense.

Trump had previously called on allies to increase annual defense spending to five percent of GDP from the current two percent, and NATO expected 23 out of 32 members to meet this last year.

Countries deemed to be not spending enough might not be defended if attacked, according to the reported plan. This move would weaken NATO's core Article 5, which stipulates that any attacked member will be defended by all others.

Trump also questioned whether allies, including France, would defend the United States.

"If the United States was in trouble and we called them. We said: 'We have a problem,
France. We have a problem. Several others, I won't mention. Do you think they will come and protect us? Hmm. They should. I'm not so sure," Trump said.

French President Emmanuel Macron, however, said France is a "loyal and
unwavering ally".

"We have always been there for each other," Macron told reporters in Brussels after a meeting of EU leaders, where they agreed to strengthen Europe's defense. He said France has shown "respect and friendship" towards the United States and that "we have the right to ask for the same thing."