Donald Trump has criticised defence spending by the UK and other European allies and threatened to leave Nato once again.
The president has slammed the US’ contribution to the alliance, branding it ‘one-sided’ and ‘ridiculous’ and warning his country could walk away altogether.
Taking to Truth Social, Trump wrote: ‘The United States spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing […] Ridiculous!’
He also shared a graph showing apparent estimated contributions by Nato members in 2025, where US funding stood at $999billion (£733billion), compared with the £4,550,000,000 footed by other members combined.
He later posted: ‘Ridiculous for the U.S.A. to continue along this one-sided path when the relationship is not reciprocal. They were not there for us!!! President DJT.’
The president cited national military funding figures to renew his charge that America is bankrolling the protection of other countries without getting any benefit.
Meanwhile, the UK’s top diplomat in Washington said Britain had heard Trump’s call and was ‘putting our money where our mouth is’.
But Trump himself has been accused of mishandling money after it was claimed he had unethically profited from his time in office.
Democrats have also accused his allies of diverting funds from the America250 commission to Freedom 250, a nonprofit group linked with the president.
A House Democratic report released on Thursday claimed this meant America250 received just $25,000,000, leaving it with a $100,000,000 shortfall.
Tensions between the US and other Nato member states have been further fuelled by Trump’s designs on Greenland, a territory of Denmark, and the response of allies – including Britain – to the Iran war.
Last month, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a review of American military forces in Europe as he questioned if some members were meeting their spending commitments.
It comes ahead of a Nato summit scheduled to take place in Ankara, Turkey, on July 7-8.
US secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month the upcoming Nato summit would probably be the most important in its history, focusing on issues ‘that need to be cleared up and fixed’.
The head of US forces in Europe, Alexus Grynkewich, also warned at the time there had been ‘an unhealthy co-dependence’ by Nato on American forces.
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