Donald Trump set the tone before leaving US: 'NATO countries must pay more'
The US leader has a point, says Sky's Alistair Bunkall, as many European countries are paying under 2% of GDP on defence.
Thursday 12 July 2018 05:37, UK
Donald Trump set the tone before he'd even left the United States.
"The US is spending many times more than any other country in order to protect them," he tweeted. "Not fair to the US taxpayer."
The transatlantic flight did nothing for his mood.
At breakfast with the NATO secretary general he tore into Germany as Jens Stoltenberg looked on wide-eyed.
In raw data terms, Mr Trump has a point. Germany spends 1.24% of GDP on defence - all NATO countries should be aiming for 2%.
For what its worth, the US spends 3.5%, the UK 2.1%, Canada 1.23% and Spain 0.93%.
Mr Trump also has his allies - Jens Stoltenberg told me in a pre-summit interview that he agrees with the president.
Tom Tugenhadt, the former army officer and current chair of the UK foreign affairs select committee, tweeted Ursula Von de Leyen earlier with the hashtag #freedomisntfree.
And Mr Trump's pressure has had an effect - across the board NATO spending has risen four years on the bounce.
But what if he doesn't like what he hears in Brussels? What if he doesn't get the guarantees he obviously wants?
When the Canadian PM Justin Trudeau criticised the US leader in a post G7 press conference in early June, Mr Trump ripped up the communique he had agreed to just hours earlier.
On Monday he flies to Helsinki to meet Putin after a potentially hostile trip to the UK.
If Trump is feeling ignored or scorned, NATO might just feel the brunt.