NATO in Trump's crosshairs

NATO is experiencing a new kind of stress - the Trump 2% stress!

NATO in Trump's crosshairs

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NATO is in news due to President Donald Trump’s criticism of low contributions on defence by many European member nations of NATO. Only US, and four other nations, have crossed the promised expense contribution levels. NATO has 26 European nations as members, and 2 North American nations as members (US and Canada). The European members are : Albania, Belgium, Bulagria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, UK. See an image for the full structure of NATO here

Of all these members, the biggest economies (Real GDP size, 2016) are : USA ($ 16.8 trillion), Canada ($ 1.8 trillion), Germany ($ 3.7 trillion), UK ($ 2.7 trillion), France ($ 2.7 trillion), Italy ($ 2.0 trillion), and Spain ($ 1.4 trillion). NATO defines defence expenditure as payments made by a national government specifically to meet the needs of its armed forces or those of Allies. A major component is payments on Armed Forces financed within the Ministry of Defence (MoD) budget. See the full data for spends in dollars by all members (2016) Armed Forces include Land, Maritime and Air forces as well as Joint formations such as Administration and Command, Special Operations Forces, Medical Service, Logistic Command etc. They might also include "Other Forces" like Ministry of Interior troops, border guards, national police forces, etc. In 2016, America spent 3.61% of its GDP on defence (so 3.61% of 16.8 trillion = $ 600 billion approx.). Other nations that spent 2.0% or more (as per NATO guidelines) were – UK (2.21%), Poland (2.0%), Greece (2.38%), and Estonia (2.16%).   See the full data for spends of all members

Some strong statements have been – “The countries we are defending must pay for the cost of this defense – and, if not, the US must be prepared to let these countries defend themselves.” – Donald Trump or “We have a problem with radical Islamism and I actually think that we could work together with [Russia] against this enemy. They have a worse problem than we do.” – Michael Flynn (now ex-NSA, had to resign over Russia allegations). Since 2016, a resounding rejection of the status quo has happened. In multiple elections and referenda, political outsiders succeeded, while the establishment was dealt major blows. Populist parties are now part of the government in about a dozen Western democracies. The journey of globalization in numbers can be seen here Economic factors may explain part of the populist rise: incomes for a majority of citizens in industrialized economies have stagnated or fallen between 2007 and 2014.2 However, in the US, for instance, analyses show that it was not only economic hardship but anxiety about the future (cultural backlash against globalization) that made people vote for Trump.
    

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