NPR

Under Trump, NATO Nations Get More U.S. Troops And Military Spending

Despite the president's criticism of the alliance, his administration has spent far more on a European defense program than did the Obama White House. U.S. troop levels in Europe have also risen.

Three days before leaders gathered in London to mark the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in London, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed a new twist in the organization's expense burden sharing — an apparent conciliatory bone tossed to a cost-obsessed President Trump."It's correct that we have now agreed a new formula for in Brussels. "The U.S. will pay less. Germany will pay more. So now the U.S. and Germany will pay the same, roughly 16% of NATO's budget."But those savings pale in comparison to what has been — despite Trump's frequent criticism of NATO's cost-sharing formula — a sizeable increase in U.S. outlays for military operations in Europe since he took office.

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