{"id":63462,"date":"2018-07-12T11:36:18","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T18:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=63462"},"modified":"2018-07-12T11:36:18","modified_gmt":"2018-07-12T18:36:18","slug":"president-trump-and-nato-secretary-general-jens-stoltenberg-at-bilateral-breakfast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=63462","title":{"rendered":"President Trump and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at Bilateral Breakfast!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brussels, Belgium&#8230;PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Good morning, everybody.  Good morning to the media \u2014 the legitimate media and the fake-news media.  Good morning to them.  A lot of good people here.  Surprising.  Q Mr. President, which countries did you want to spend more on NATO in particular?  PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Just look at the chart.  Take a look at the chart.  It\u2019s public.  And many countries are not paying what they should.  And, frankly, many countries owe us a tremendous amount of money for many years back, where they\u2019re delinquent, as far as I\u2019m concerned, because the United States has had to pay for them.  So if you go back 10 or 20 years, you\u2019ll just add it all up.  It\u2019s massive amounts of money is owed.  The United States has paid and stepped up like nobody.  This has gone on for decades, by the way.  This has gone on for many Presidents.  But no other President brought it up like I bring it up.  So something has to be done, and the Secretary General has been working on it very hard.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jrnjje-Nvjs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This year, since our last meeting, commitments have been made for over $40 billion more money spent by other countries.  So that\u2019s a step, but it\u2019s a very small step.  It sounds like a lot of money, and it is.  But it\u2019s a very small amount of money relative to what they owe and to what they should be paying.  And it\u2019s an unfair burden on the United States.<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re here to talk about that, and I\u2019m sure it will be resolved.  I have great confidence in the Secretary General.  He\u2019s worked very, very hard on this, and he knows it\u2019s a fact.  But I have great confidence in him and his representatives.<\/p>\n<p>You going to say something?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG:  First of all, it\u2019s great to see you again, Mr. President.  And good to have you here for a summit.  And we are going to discuss many important issues at the summit.  Among them is defense spending.  And we all agree that we have to do more.  I agree with you that we have to do make sure that our allies are investing more.  The good news is that allies have started to invest more in defense.<\/p>\n<p>After years of cutting defense budgets, they have started to add billions to their defense budgets.  And last year was the biggest increase in defense spending across Europe and Canada in that generation.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Why was that last year?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG:  It\u2019s also because of your leadership, because of your carried message.  And \u2014<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  They won\u2019t write that, but that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG:  No, I have said it before, but the thing is that it really has.  And your message is having an impact, and we are going to build on that to make sure that we have further increases.  You initiated last year that all allies are going to develop national plans on how to spend more on defense.  And based on these national plans, we now estimate that European allies and Canada will add 266 extra U.S. dollars for defense from now until \u2014 billion U.S. dollars \u2014 until 2024.<\/p>\n<p>So this is really adding some extra momentum.  It helps and we are moving in the right direction.  But we still have to do more, and that is what we\u2019re going to address after the summit later on today.<\/p>\n<p>Let me also add that a strong NATO is good for Europe and it\u2019s also good for the United States.  The U.S. (inaudible) presence in Europe helps to protect Europe, but it also helps the United States project power to the Middle East, to Africa.  And I think also that clout \u2014 the military clout of Europe, economic clout, the political clout \u2014 also is helpful dealing with Russia.  And we look forward to the meeting you\u2019re going to have with President Putin.  And I think that leaders are also looking forward to your thoughts about the meeting with President Putin later on.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, I have to say, I think it\u2019s very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia, where you\u2019re supposed to be guarding against Russia, and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia.  So we\u2019re protecting Germany.  We\u2019re protecting France.  We\u2019re protecting all of these countries.  And then numerous of the countries go out and make a pipeline deal with Russia, where they\u2019re paying billions of dollars into the coffers of Russia.<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re protect you against Russia, but they\u2019re paying billions of dollars to Russia, and I think that\u2019s very inappropriate.  And the former Chancellor of Germany is the head of the pipeline company that\u2019s supplying the gas.  Ultimately, Germany will have almost 70 percent of their country controlled by Russia with natural gas.<\/p>\n<p>So you tell me, is that appropriate?  I mean, I\u2019ve been complaining about this from the time I got in.  It should have never been allowed to have happened.  But Germany is totally controlled by Russia, because they will be getting from 60 to 70 percent of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline.  And you tell me if that\u2019s appropriate, because I think it\u2019s not, and I think it\u2019s a very bad thing for NATO and I don\u2019t think it should have happened.  And I think we have to talk to Germany about it.<\/p>\n<p>On top of that, Germany is just paying a little bit over 1 percent, whereas the United States, in actual numbers, is paying 4.2 percent of a much larger GDP.  So I think that\u2019s inappropriate also.  You know, we\u2019re protecting Germany, we\u2019re protecting France.  We\u2019re protecting everybody.  And yet we\u2019re paying a lot of money to protect.<\/p>\n<p>Now, this has been going on for decades.  This has been brought up by other presidents.  But other presidents never did anything about it because I don\u2019t think they understood it or they just didn\u2019t want to get involved.<\/p>\n<p>But I have to bring it up, because I think it\u2019s very unfair to our country.  It\u2019s very unfair to our taxpayer.  And I think that these countries have to step it up not over a 10-year period; they have to step it up immediately.  Germany is a rich country.  They talk about they\u2019re going to increase it a tiny bit by 2030.  Well, they could increase it immediately tomorrow and have no problem.  I don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair to the United States.<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re going to have to do something because we\u2019re not going to put up with it.  We can\u2019t put up with it.  And it\u2019s inappropriate.<\/p>\n<p>So we have to talk about the billions and billions of dollars that\u2019s being paid to the country that we\u2019re supposed to be protecting you against.  You know, everybody is talking about it all over the world.  They\u2019ll say, well, wait a minute, we\u2019re supposed to be protecting you from Russia, but why are you paying billions of dollars to Russia for energy?  Why are countries in NATO, namely Germany, having a large percentage of their energy needs paid to Russia and taken care of by Russia?<\/p>\n<p>Now, if you look at it, Germany is a captive of Russia because they supply.  They got rid of their coal plants.  They got rid of their nuclear.  They\u2019re getting so much of the oil and gas from Russia.  I think it\u2019s something that NATO has to look at.  I think it\u2019s very inappropriate.  You and I agree that it\u2019s inappropriate.  I don\u2019t know what you can do about it now, but it certainly doesn\u2019t seem to make sense that they paid billions of dollars to Russia and now we have to defend them against Russia.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG:  You know, NATO is an alliance of 29 nations, and there are sometimes differences and different views, and also some disagreements.  And the gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is one issue where allies disagree.  But the strength of NATO is that despite these differences, we have always been able to unite around our core task, to protect and defend each other, because we understand that we are stronger together than apart.<\/p>\n<p>I think that two World Wars and the Cold War taught us that we are stronger together than apart.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  But how can you be together when a country is getting its energy from the person you want protection against or from the group that you want protection?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG:  Because we understand that when we stand together, also in dealing with Russia, we are stronger.  I think what we have seen is that \u2014<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  No, you\u2019re just making Russia richer.  You\u2019re not dealing with Russia.  You\u2019re making Russia richer.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG:  Well, I think that even during the Cold War, NATO Allies were trading with Russia, and then there have been disagreements about what kind of trade arrangements we should (inaudible).<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I think trade is wonderful.  I think energy is a whole different story.  I think energy is a much different story than normal trade.  And you have a country like Poland that won\u2019t accept the gas.  You take a look at some of the countries \u2014 they won\u2019t accept it, because they don\u2019t want to be captive to Russia.  But Germany, as far as I\u2019m concerned, is captive to Russia, because it\u2019s getting so much of its energy from Russia.  So we\u2019re supposed to protect Germany, but they\u2019re getting their energy from Russia.  Explain that.  And it can\u2019t be explained \u2014 you know that.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>Q    What are the consequences if they don\u2019t spend more, Mr. President?<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  They will spend more.  I have great confidence that they\u2019ll spend more.  I have great confidence.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, does something have to change on trade for you to keep your troop levels in Europe?<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I have great confidence that they will be spending more money, as they should be.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, why is it (inaudible) spend 10 times more than Russia for defense?  Why is it necessary to spend 10 times more money on defense (inaudible)?  You are a businessman.<\/p>\n<p>PRESIDENT TRUMP:  It\u2019s a shame they made that deal.  Too bad.  It\u2019s too bad.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>END<\/p>\n<p>9:24 A.M. CEST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brussels, Belgium&#8230;PRESIDENT TRUMP: Good morning, everybody. Good morning to the media \u2014 the legitimate media and the fake-news media. Good morning to them. A lot of good people here. Surprising. Q Mr. President, which countries did you want to spend more on NATO in particular? PRESIDENT TRUMP: Just look at the chart. Take a look [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/screencapture-youtube-watch-2018-07-12-11_32_50.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/63463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}