German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen has rejected US President Donald Trump’s claim that Germany owes NATO and the United States “vast sums” of money for defence.
Key points:
- Germany says defence spending also includes UN missions and fight against IS
- Mr Trump earlier tweeted that Germany “owes vast sums of money to NATO”
- German defence spending set to represent 1.26 per cent of economic output
“There is no debt account at NATO,” Ms von der Leyen said in a statement, adding that it was wrong to link the alliance’s target for members to spend 2 per cent of their economic output on defence by 2024 solely to NATO.
“Defence spending also goes into UN peacekeeping missions, into our European missions and into our contribution to the fight against IS terrorism,” Ms von der Leyen said.
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