German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke during a joint press conference with President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House.<\/p>\n
BERLIN (AP) Chancellor Angela Merkel is underlining Germanys rejection of a claim by President Donald Trump that it owes NATO large sums for underspending on defense. She is also pointing to a history of decades of post-World War II military restraint. <\/p>\n
Trump tweeted Saturday that Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO. Germany is short of a NATO target of spending 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense, with the figure currently at 1.23 percent. <\/p>\n
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Merkel said Monday defense spending is not just about contributions to NATO, but also about European contributions in Africa for example, U.N. missions. She added: Not a single NATO member state pays its entire defense budget into NATO. <\/p>\n
Merkel said that defense spending cant be uncoupled from historical developments from one day to the next. <\/p>\n
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Original post: German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke during a joint press conference with President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House. BERLIN (AP) Chancellor Angela Merkel is underlining Germanys rejection of a claim by President Donald Trump that it owes NATO large sums for underspending on defense. She is also pointing to a history of decades of post-World War II military restraint. Continue reading
\nMerkel disputes Trump's NATO debt claim - The Boston Globe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"