President Trump condemned NATO’s lack of defense spending on Truth Social, criticizing the massive difference in U.S. expenditure compared to other nations.
“The United States spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing: U.S. 999 Billion Dollars, United Kingdom, 90.5 Billion Dollars, France, 66.5 Billion Dollars, Italy, 48.8 Billion Dollars, Poland, 44.3 Billion Dollars,” he wrote. “Others, including Germany, are MUCH LOWER. (2014-2025) Ridiculous!”
A recent NATO release details countries’ defense spending. The data, which detailed estimates up to June 3, 2025, listed the United States’ defense expenditure as $980 billion, the United Kingdom’s as $90.508 billion, France’s as $66.531 billion, Italy’s as $48.8 billion, and Poland’s as $44.314 billion.
“Ridiculous for the U.S.A. to continue along this one sided path when the relationship is not reciprocal,” Trump added in a subsequent post. “They were not there for us!!!”
NATO Chief Mark Rutte said last month that the alliance is ready to take more responsibility for defense spending. “The U.S. has adjusted its pledges to the NATO Force Model,” he stated. “This is not primarily about where forces and assets are currently, but about who would do what if our defense plans were activated.”
“Historically, this was overly reliant on the U.S. Now the U.S. has adjusted its pledged contributions — and other allies have stepped up to contribute more,” Rutte explained, adding that the United States had “made clear that the U.S. nuclear deterrent is solid.”
“And that it is crucial that Europe and Canada do more on the conventional front, understanding that the U.S. has obligations around the globe that it needs to account for,” he noted.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that President Trump is set to attend NATO’s meeting in July.
“The United States is still in the NATO alliance, and we’ll be there in Turkey to talk about all these topics. The president himself will be attending the next NATO meeting of heads of state, where all these points will be made clear,” Rubio said. “We’re still in NATO, but NATO needs significant changes, and the president has made that clear. He is disappointed in NATO.”
