US President Donald Trump lashed out at Germany on Wednesday morning, branding it a “captive of Russia” because of a “very inappropriate” gas pipeline deal in a prickly start to Nato talks, APA reported citing Financial Times.
Speaking at a breakfast with the Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, Mr Trump said it was unfair that the US spent more on the transatlantic security alliance than its allies, and said Germany was a “rich country” that could increase its defence spending immediately.
Mr Trump said $40bn had been raised for Nato in the last year “because of me”, but added that was not nearly enough.
The US president also criticised Germany’s multibillion-dollar Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline deal with Russia, a country he said the US was supposed to be protecting Europe from.
“Germany is a captive of Russia,” he said, adding that Germany having made the deal was “very inappropriate”.
Mr Stoltenberg told Mr Trump that the alliance disagreed with his stance on the pipeline deal.
Also on Wednesday, the US ambassador to the UK Woody Johnson said a moderate lessening of tension between the US and Russia would be a positive result of the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki next week.
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