In a characteristically freewheeling news conference at NATO headquarters, covering his impending visit to Britain, talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Iran, China, and his father and mother’s European roots, Trump also returned to a favored theme. He linked calls for higher defense spending to complaints about Germany’s trade surplus and renewed a threat to raise tariffs on EU-made cars if trade terms do not change.

Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian premier who Trump said gave him “total credit” for a successful summit, told reporters: “We had a very frank and open discussion ... That discussion has made NATO stronger. It has created a new sense of urgency.”

EUROPEANS CAUTIOUS
Merkel was among those, however, who gave little indication that anything concretely new had been pledged by those present.

“The American president demanded what has been discussed for months, that there is a change in the burden-sharing. I made clear that we are on this path,” she said, a day after having to challenge Trump’s suggestion German imports of Russian gas meant that her country was “totally controlled by Russia”.

Macron said France, which last year spent 1.8 percent on defense, would meet the target by the 2024 deadline.

For many of those present, Trump’s demands that they move closer to the 3.6 percent of GDP Washington spends on the world’s most powerful military make little sense. “Even if we had the money, what would spend it on?” one NATO diplomat said.

“In the case of Germany, a lot of European countries would be very uncomfortable with that level of spending,” the diplomat added — a nod to the World War Two aggression that was to lead to NATO’s creation. “It would be armed to the teeth.”

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