US President Donald Trump is considering the possibility of reorganizing NATO and denying some rights within the alliance to those countries that do not allocate sufficient funds for defense. The Telegraph wrote about this with reference to sources.
The proposals being considered by Trump would likely exclude allies that spend less than 5% of GDP on defense from key decisions. This includes voting on expansion and joint missions – and even invoking Article 5 of the NATO Charter on mutual defense.
“Our dissatisfaction with the Europeans is very real,” a Trump administration source told The Telegraph. He added: “Any country that does not pay five percent should not be allowed to vote on future NATO spending.”
Now all major decisions in NATO require the approval of all member states. As The Telegraph points out, allies are likely to block any changes Trump proposes, leading to further internal conflict.
NATO reported a few days ago that all NATO members had for the first time achieved defense spending of at least 2% of GDP. This goal was set in 2014.
Currently, no NATO country, including the United States itself, spends 5% of its GDP on defense. It is expected that NATO countries will discuss concrete plans to achieve this level at the next summit, which will be held at the end of the year in Türkiye.