Why Nato’s pushback against Trump’s claims on its defence spending could backfire

BRUSSELS – If official explanations are to be believed, defence ministers from the 31 member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) gathered on Feb 15 in Brussels to discuss the latest developments on the war in Ukraine.

In reality, the ministers’ main concern was to provide a rushed response to threats from Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate for the US presidential elections. The former president recently warned that should he return to the White House,

the United States would refuse to come to the defence of European countries

that failed to spend at least 2 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on their military.