President Trump is considering a ‘pay-to-play’ Nato
President Trump is considering a ‘pay-to-play’ Nato, with members who fail to hit a five per cent spending target banned from key decisions.
The proposed Nato shake-up would see block allies who don’t meet a spending target set by Trump excluded from strategic votes – including when the bloc goes to war.
It is one of several plans the US president is weighing up after allies rejected his demand to send warships to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, including a plan which could see the removal of American troops from Germany.
Nato members currently already spend at least 2 per cent of their GDP on defence, after Trump urged Nato members to double their military funding in 2018.
The alliance’s secretary-general Mark Rutte said leaders would have to set out plans for reaching the new 5 per cent target at a summit in Turkey later this year.
An administration source told the Telegraph: ‘The frustration we’ve had with the Europeans has been very real.
‘Any country that’s not paying 5 per cent shouldn’t be allowed to vote on future expenditures at Nato.’
A US source added: ‘We need to start the conversation about what is a threat and what does the alliance do. We have to send the message that what Spain and the UK did is unacceptable.’
Britain is hitting the current 2 per cent target, but proportionately spends less on defence than 13 other Nato allies.
Nato’s annual report published on Thursday found Britain spent 2.33 per cent of its GDP on defence last year – just above Romania, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia.
The change would also need consensus from other Nato members – and since many allies are unlikely to approve of Trump’s proposal, a further battle with Trump could ensue.
The president’s decision to send thousands more US troops to the Middle East in preparation for a possible ground invasion came after Nato countries refused to send ships to the Strait of Hormuz – the vital waterway at the centre of rising oil prices as the Iran US-Israel war continues.
Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s relationship has been turbulent since Starmer initially blocked the US from using Diego Garcia, the military base in the Chagos Islands.
Trump also said he was ‘very disappointed’ over Starmer’s response to the Iran conflict, accusing him of taking ‘far too long’ to change his mind and eventually permit the strikes from the UK’s bases.
Sir Keir has been desperately trying to avoid angering the White House and his own left-wing MPs since the Middle East crisis flared.
Kemi Badenoch accused Starmer of being ‘scared’ of large blocs of voters whose ‘loyalties are swayed by conflicts in the Middle East’.
Credit: Eleanor Mann, Daily Mail
