International Relations
Spend 4% of GDP on Defense: Trump
- 12 Jul 2018
- 2 min read
The leaders of 29 NATO member countries and many
Key Highlights
- The summit was held against a backdrop of deepening transatlantic tensions in fields ranging from trade to energy and defense.
- The United States (US) demanded that members double their
defence spending commitments. - At the 2014 summit, NATO allies had agreed to spend 2% of their GDP on
defence . However, the US suggested that countries not only meet their commitment of 2% expenditure ondefence but also increase it to 4% immediately. - At the end of the summit, all 29 NATO members backed a joint statement committing themselves to greater ‘burden sharing’ and to the alliance’s founding commitment that an attack on one member is an attack on them all.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North American and European countries.
- The alliance is based on the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on April 4, 1949.
- It constitutes a system of collective
defence whereby its independent member states agree to mutualdefence in response to an attack by any external party. - NATO Headquarters is located in Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.