Trump issues 'invoice' to Merkel over NATO funding

[essentialsaltes]

"The US President is said to have had an “invoice” printed out outlining the sum estimated by his aides as covering Germany’s unpaid contributions for defence."

This is Keystone Kops-level diplomacy.

'Now, speaking as a businessman, and I'm one of the best all-time, you hafta pay invoices. This one is 30-d... what is it, Howard? 60-days. A 60-day invoice. So, we expect you to honor your debt. Or, and I'm saying this, we'll repo Bavaria.'

 

[JackRT]

When did Trump appoint himself as Secretary General to NATO? Perhaps the UN should send an invoice to Trump?

 

[Saucy]

He ran on this.

 

[Goonie]

He ran on this.

That he'd send fake invoices to allies?

 

[Tull]

Any reason why Germany of all nations should not pay its share

 

[LoAmmi]

Any reason why Germany of all nations should not pay its share

It isn't paying money to someone. It's spending 2% of your GDP on defense, which is something that many NATO nations are working on and have gotten better. The promise was to work toward getting to 2% over the next decade and was signed in 2014. That means they agreed to work toward having that done by 2024. And from what I've read Germany has started to grow how much they spend in accordance with the agreement signed.

Trump doing this is basically him showing he doesn't understand what the agreement was and continues to embarrass us.

 

[Saucy]

I think that's fair.

 

[Tull]

So NATO has been in place since 1949 and it took 65 years for them to agree to do what they are supposed to to begin with in 10 years....that is the embarrassment.

 

[LoAmmi]

So NATO has been in place since 1949 and it took 65 years for them to agree to do what they are supposed to to begin with in 10 years....that is the embarrassment.

Did NATO originally call for 2% of GDP spent on defense?

 

[LoAmmi]

Second question: If Germany spent more on defense, how much would that save the United States? (It might be a trick question)

 

[Armoured]

"The US President is said to have had an “invoice” printed out outlining the sum estimated by his aides as covering Germany’s unpaid contributions for defence."

This is Keystone Kops-level diplomacy.

'Now, speaking as a businessman, and I'm one of the best all-time, you hafta pay invoices. This one is 30-d... what is it, Howard? 60-days. A 60-day invoice. So, we expect you to honor your debt. Or, and I'm saying this, we'll repo Bavaria.'

Anyone else hearing this constantly in the background nowadays?

 

[Allandavid]

This is so embarrassing....so, so embarrassing...

I can almost feel people cringing across the United States...

 

[Tull]

Did NATO originally call for 2% of GDP spent on defense?

No evidence to suggest otherwise

 

[Allandavid]

So NATO has been in place since 1949 and it took 65 years for them to agree to do what they are supposed to to begin with in 10 years....that is the embarrassment.

"That is almost double the target of 2% of GDP that NATO members all agreed to in 2006."

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/02/daily-chart-11

 

[LoAmmi]

No evidence to suggest otherwise

The Politics of 2 Percent: NATO and the Security Vacuum in Europe - Carnegie Europe - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The agreement was reached in 2014. It doesn't appear, according to this article, that any type of agreement existed prior to that. I'm assuming such an agreement would be mentioned.

 

[LoAmmi]

"That is almost double the target of 2% of GDP that NATO members all agreed to in 2006."

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/02/daily-chart-11

It wasn't agreed upon by all members then.

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

Whatever the promise was, what is particularly outrageous about insisting that if the Germany is to continue to maintain a military alliance with the US, she should to more to pay her own way...

...perhaps the US, under this new administration, no longer fells that 2% is enough?

 

[LoAmmi]

Whatever the promise was, what is particularly outrageous about insisting that if the Germany is to continue to maintain a military alliance with the US, she should to more to pay her own way...

...perhaps the US, under this new administration, no longer fells that 2% is enough?

We're talking about internal defense spending.

 

[Desk trauma]

Oy vey

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

We're talking about internal defense spending.

I'm aware of that.