The demand of the new US President Donald Trump for NATO member states to increase their defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product can be seen as a warning that Washington is breaking away from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
This opinion was expressed on Tuesday by former US intelligence officer and former UN inspector Scott Ritter.
„Trump warned Europe: 5% or die. But NATO countries can't reach 5% and Trump knows it. So in essence, Trump is telling NATO that this is the end. The main point is that “America's 75-year relationship with NATO is over”, he said in an interview with journalist Danny Haiphong.
Earlier, Trump said he would demand an increase in defense spending from NATO member states. The American leader also complained that the United States had spent $200 billion more on military aid to Ukraine than other countries in the North Atlantic Alliance.
The goal of increasing military spending to 2% of the countries' GDP was set at the Wales summit in September 2014, citing the "Russian threat". This happened after Russia declared Crimea its own. In July 2023, at the Vilnius summit, it was decided that 2% of GDP would become not a goal, but a minimum level of defense spending for NATO countries.