Leaked documents spark fresh fears President Donald Trump will pull US out of military alliance NATO
Latest hints the US President could cut NATO funding come before next month's summit of the military alliance in Brussels
DONALD Trump sparked fresh fears he will cut NATO spending after leaked comments revealed he labelled the military alliance “as bad as NAFTA”.
He made the explosive comparison to the North American free trade agreement - which he has repeatedly attacked - to fellow world leaders at the G7 summit earlier this month in Canada, according to the Axios news website.
The President’s remarks will raise alarm bells throughout Europe over fears he will use next month’s key NATO summit in Brussels to cut funding or US troops from the key military alliance.
Notes of Mr Trump’s private meeting with his fellow six G7 leaders quoted Mr Trump saying of the Nato meeting: “It will be an interesting summit. NATO is as bad as Nafta. It’s much too costly for the US.”
And in a double whammy for Europe’s hopes of maintaining US spending, the White House announced Mr Trump would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at a special summit in Helsinki on July 16 - just days after the NATO meeting.
It means Theresa May will get the last chance to persuade the US President not to do a deal with Russia that hurts NATO when he visits her in the UK on July 13 and 14.
On Thursday No10 sought to calm fears over the future of America’s NATO commitment.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “The President has made clear his commitment to NATO numerous times - including when the PM met him last year and we believe his words were backed up by action and of course they will be discussing all of that next week.”
It came after Mr Trump escalated his trade war with Europe by claiming the EU was set up to raid the US “piggy bank”.
In an extraordinary attack the US President used a rally in North Dakota to accuse the 28 EU member states of taking advantage of trade with the US to the tune of £115 billion.
He blasted: “We love the countries of the European Union but the European Union, of course, was set up to take advantage of the United States, to attack our piggy bank, right? We can’t let that happen.”
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