NATO Defense Spending and Trump

The Trump administration’s recent criticism of NATO has stirred up a lot of controversy surrounding the aging alliance. NATO was established early in the cold war. At this time, the Soviet Union’s massive military led the US and several other countries to form a military alliance whereby an attack on one member would be treated as an attack on every member. It was hoped that this would make the Soviets think twice before invading a member country. Thankfully war never came about, and the Soviet Union disintegrated in the early 1990’s. Yet NATO is still very much alive, leading many to question its role now that the Soviet Union is gone.

NATO members are required to spend at least 2% of their GDP on military spending. This is to ensure that every member country contributes to the security the alliance provides. It would be unfair if only a few members maintain strong militaries while other non-contributing members enjoy the assurance that their NATO allies will come to their rescue in the event of an attack. Yet this is largely what has happened. Only 5 of NATO’s 22 members spend the required 2% of their GDP on defense. The US is by far the largest military spender, spending well over twice as much on defense as the other 21 members combined. The Trump administration views this lopsided spending as inherently problematic and against America’s best interest.

This disproportionate spending appears unjust on its face. Though further investigation might suggest otherwise. Since the fall of the Soviet Union the United States has pressured NATO to broaden its mission to include involvement in conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan. So, some would claim that it is only fair that the US spend more on defense than other members, because the US expects its NATO allies to get involved in US led conflicts.

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