Trump berates NATO leaders for underspending on defense, warns of repercussions

US President Donald Trump has admonished several leaders of NATO allies for spending too little on the organization, and has warned of possible unspecified consequences, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

In a series of blunt letters to NATO members last month, Trump attacked what he called their failure to meet security obligations, diplomatic sources said.

Trump has frequently complained that the US is shouldering too much of the costs in the organization and that it is time other member countries helped to foot a larger portion of the bill.

“There is growing frustration in the United States that some allies have not stepped up as promised,” Trump wrote to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to the Times. “The United States continues to devote more resources to the defense of Europe when the continent’s economy, including Germany’s, are doing well and security challenges abound. This is no longer sustainable for us.”

Most European nations have failed to live up to their 2014 pledge to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense.

Trump particularly singled out Germany’s failure to do so, saying it was encouraging other nations not to fulfill their obligations.

“Continued German underspending on defense undermines the security of the alliance and provides validation for other allies that also do not plan to meet their military spending commitments, because others see you as a role model.”

Trump warned that it will “become increasingly difficult to justify to American citizens why some countries do not share NATO’s collective security burden while American soldiers continue to sacrifice their lives overseas or come home gravely wounded.”

While the White House would not comment on presidential correspondence, the Times reported that Trump also wrote to the leaders of Belgium, Norway and Canada and probably also to Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, among others.

Next week, the president will meet with US allies at a NATO summit in Brussels, then move on for discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Participants will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the fiasco at last month’s Group of Seven summit in Canada which ended with Trump refusing to sign a group consensus statement and attacking Canadian premier Justin Trudeau for being “Very dishonest & weak.”

Last month, the Washington Post reported that US defense officials were looking at the cost and implications of withdrawing or transferring a big chunk of American troops based in Germany.

The President was reportedly surprised to learn that some 35,000 active-duty troops were located in Germany, the paper said.

National security adviser John Bolton told CBS TV’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, “The president wants a strong NATO.

“If you think Russia’s a threat, ask yourself this question: Why is Germany spending less than 1.2 percent of its [GDP]? When people talk about undermining the NATO alliance, you should look at those who are carrying out steps that make NATO less effective militarily.”

Trump has often claimed that the US is being unfairly taken advantage of by other countries.

On Monday, Trump complained that the World Trade Organization had been treating the US “very badly for many, many years.” He added that “if they don’t treat us properly, we will be doing something,” the Guardian newspaper reported.

As of June 1, the Trump administration has slapped a 25% tariff on imports to the US of steel and ten percent on imports of aluminium from the EU, Canada and Mexico, sparking the start of a trade war.

Trump is also threatening to increase tariffs on cars imported to the US from Europe.