NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg once again criticized former US President Donald Trump's statement on the 14th that he would not defend NATO member states that do not pay sufficient military costs. and emphasized the importance of unity.
NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg held a press conference in Belgium on the 14th.
Regarding former US President Trump's statement that NATO member states that do not pay sufficient military expenditures will not defend themselves, he said, ``We should not undermine the credibility of NATO's deterrence power. "We should not give Russia any room for misunderstanding about our resolve," he said, criticizing him once again.
Furthermore, it was revealed that 18 of the 31 member countries are expected to achieve their defense spending targets this year. NATO has set a goal for each country to increase its defense spending to 2% or more of GDP (gross domestic product).
As of July last year, 11 countries were expected to achieve the goal, so this is a significant increase.
Secretary-General Stoltenberg emphasized that European countries are working towards increasing their budgets, and appealed to the importance of unity in the face of Russia's continued invasion of Ukraine.