{"id":7641,"date":"2026-07-03T16:35:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/03\/germanys-merz-defends-nato-spending-after-trump-calls-it-ridiculous\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T16:35:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:35:37","slug":"germanys-merz-defends-nato-spending-after-trump-calls-it-ridiculous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/03\/germanys-merz-defends-nato-spending-after-trump-calls-it-ridiculous\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany\u2019s Merz defends NATO spending after Trump calls it \u2018ridiculous\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Back and forth over defence spending comes as NATO leaders set to meet in Ankara next week.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has defended his country\u2019s NATO defence spending, shortly after US President Donald Trump re-upped his criticism of alliance members.<\/p>\n<p>The statement on Friday came as NATO leaders were set to meet next week in Ankara. Trump has decried defence spending by members of the bloc throughout his political career, calling the balance of spending \u201cridiculous\u201d and \u201cone-sided\u201d in his latest Truth Social posts on the issue earlier this week.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2026\/6\/12\/france-germany-jet-plans-crash-can-europe-ever-end-us-security-reliance\">France-Germany jet plans crash: Can Europe end reliance on US for security?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/24\/top-european-leaders-vow-strong-support-for-ukraine-ahead-of-nato-summit\">Top European leaders vow \u2018strong\u2019 support for Ukraine ahead of NATO summit<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/24\/trump-slams-nato-over-lax-participation-in-iran-war-in-talk-with-mark-rutte\">Trump slams NATO over lax participation in Iran war in talk with Mark Rutte<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>In one post, Trump said Germany\u2019s spending was \u201cMUCH \u2060LOWER\u201d between 2014 and 2025 than the US or other NATO allies, which he again called \u201cRidiculous!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked about the comment, Merz said Germany would double its defence budget within four years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the greatest effort we have ever made to strengthen our defence capabilities. In this respect, we have \u200cno reason to shy away from anyone,\u201d Merz said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will state this, with all due modesty, and we are doing so as the European Union\u2019s largest member state, bearing a responsibility within Europe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>US and European ties have been strained throughout Trump\u2019s first term from 2017 to 2021 and his current term, which began in January 2025.<\/p>\n<p>However, while largely dismissive of the president during his first four years in office, several European leaders have sought a more amenable approach to the president this time around.<\/p>\n<p>At the behest of the US, NATO leaders agreed to spend 3.5 percent of their countries\u2019 GDP on core defence items, such as weapons and troops, \u2060by 2035, an increase of the previous goal set by the bloc of 2 percent of its GDP.<\/p>\n<p>However, relations have since frayed over several issues, including Trump\u2019s pledges to take control of the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland. Denmark is a member of NATO.<\/p>\n<p>The US-Israeli war in Iran has also proven to be a major wedge, with Trump launching the conflict without consulting European allies who have dealt with the fallout of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p>Trump had repeatedly <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/24\/trump-slams-nato-over-lax-participation-in-iran-war-in-talk-with-mark-rutte\">condemned<\/a> European allies for not joining the war effort.<\/p>\n<p>Merz, meanwhile, roiled the president by saying in April the US had been \u201chumiliated\u201d by Iran. Trump, in turn, said the US would withdraw 5,000 troops currently stationed in Germany.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on Friday, Merz said Germany was ahead of schedule to reach its NATO commitments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will reach the 3.5 percent benchmark set in The Hague as early as 2029,\u201d he told reporters, \u201cwell ahead of the agreed deadline\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back and forth over defence spending comes as NATO leaders set to meet in Ankara next week. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has defended his country\u2019s NATO defence spending, shortly after US President Donald Trump re-upped his criticism of alliance members. The statement on Friday came as NATO leaders were set to meet next week in &#8230; <a title=\"Germany\u2019s Merz defends NATO spending after Trump calls it \u2018ridiculous\u2019\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/03\/germanys-merz-defends-nato-spending-after-trump-calls-it-ridiculous\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Germany\u2019s Merz defends NATO spending after Trump calls it \u2018ridiculous\u2019\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}