Trump threatens trade action to spur NATO contributions

WASHINGTON－US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States may take action on trade with those countries that are not contributing enough to NATO.

Trump, fresh from a trip to London for a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has been pushing member countries to contribute more to the alliance.

He said a lot of countries were getting close to the goal of 2 percent of their GDP for NATO contributions.

"A lot of countries are close and getting closer. And some are really not close, and we may do things having to do with trade. It's not fair that they get US protection and they're not putting up their money," he said.

Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron clashed over the future of NATO on Tuesday before a meeting intended to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the alliance.

The two-day showpiece event, which was aimed at creating harmony among the 29 members of the alliance, has been instead surrounded by discord and squabbles.

In an interview last month, Macron said NATO is "brain dead" and called for a rapprochement with Russia and a pause in European Union enlargement.

Macron reiterated his opinion at the summit's main event in London, drawing a rebuff from Trump.

Trump told journalists: "President Macron said NATO was brain dead. I think that's very insulting. I was very surprised."

Instead of debating global issues requiring attention by NATO, the big event was marred by yet another spat－this time between next-door neighbors－Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau was overheard in a video during a reception on Tuesday night apparently deriding Trump's habit of lengthy impromptu news conferences, though he did not mention the US president by name.

In retaliation, Trump called Trudeau "two-faced". He suggested that Trudeau's comments were precipitated by his decision to highlight the fact that Canada falls short of NATO goals on military spending.

But Trump also was upbeat about the alliance on Thursday, saying his meetings went well and that "NATO is in very, very good shape and the relationships with other countries are really extraordinary".