Another week another pointless argument started with America’s allies by it’s president.
The German defence minister, Ursula von der Leyen, on Sunday rejected Donald Trump’s claim that Germany owes Nato and the US “vast sums” of money for defence.
“There is no debt account at Nato,” Von der Leyen said in a statement, adding that it was wrong to link the alliance’s target for members to spend 2% of their economic output on defence by 2024 solely to NATO.
“Defence spending also goes into UN peacekeeping missions, into our European missions and into our contribution to the fight against [Isis] terrorism,” Von der Leyen said.
Trump, who was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, said on Twitter on Saturday – a day after meeting the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Washington – that Germany “owes vast sums of money to Nato & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!”
His words prompted criticism, also published on Twitter, from a former permanent representative to Nato under President Obama.
Ivo Daalder, permanent representative from 2009 to 2013, wrote: “Sorry, Mr President, that’s not how Nato works. The US decides for itself how much it contributes to defending Nato. This is not a financial transaction, where Nato countries pay the US to defend them. It is part of our treaty commitment.
Trump has urged Germany and other Nato members to accelerate efforts to meet Nato’s defence spending target.
Von der Leyen said everyone wanted the burden to be shared fairly and for that to happen it was necessary to have a “modern security concept” that included a modern Nato but also a European defence union and investment in the United Nations.
German defence spending is set to rise by €1.4bn ($1.5bn) to €38.5bn ($41.4bn) in 2018 – a figure that is projected to represent 1.26% of economic output, the finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, has said. In 2016, Germany’s defence spending ratio stood at 1.18%.
During her trip to Washington, Merkel reiterated Germany’s commitment to the 2% military spending goal.
NATO is actually divided into three different budgets:
- civil budget
- military budget
- NATO Security Investment Programme (NSIP)
The USA is indeed the main contributor, around 22%. Then comes Germany (14.5%), France (11%) and UK (10.5%).
But it’s important not to conflate the money contributed towards Nato with the overall military budget of a country. The US spends a huge amount on it’s military, an amount set to rise under it’s new president according to his recently announced budget. This is a political choice, one each country is free to make or not.
A recent Wall Street Journal article conflated NATO budgeted expenses with member’s military expenditure the data can be found easily on the NATO database (Nato funding).
But of course spending a great deal on your own military escapades, does not necessarily make you useful to the defence of your allies
Just remember the huge cost of the American interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. This military cost is included in US military expenditure, though obviously both Germany and France, two major contributors to NATO, refused to participate in the intervention in Iraq and did not pay a dime on it.
The USA has a large military budget. It is a significant part of how the country self-identifies. It’s a political choice.