I just saw this posted on the @RogueSnrAdvisor twitter account. This person seems the most level-headed of the Rogue accounts. S/he said this is the invoice that Trump gave to Chancellor Merkel. Now it could be fake, who knows, but it is really interesting, and time will show if this is the actual piece of paper submitted to Germany (c/o Angela Merkel !!!).
Here is the story on Politico:
U.S. President Donald Trump handed German Chancellor Angela Merkel a bill for money supposedly owed to NATO when they met last weekend in Washington DC, the Sunday Times reported.
The gesture was “outrageous,” the paper quoted an unnamed German minister as saying. “The concept behind putting out such demands is to intimidate the other side, but the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations,” the minister is further cited as saying.
According to the Times, the bill handed to Merkel was thought to be for more than $300 billion. It was reportedly calculated by adding the amounts by which Germany have fallen short on annual payments to NATO since 2002 — and adding interest.
Never seen anything crazier in my life. I hope it’s true, because it is so embarrassing maybe even the Republicans will overtly walk away from Trump. Probably not.
Monday, Mar 27, 2017 · 3:13:24 PM +00:00
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Katydid
Here is the language provided in the NATO funding agreement for indirect funding costs, which is presumably what this bill is based on. This is a requirement for countries to spend on their own defense, not dues:
The 2% defence investment guideline
In 2006, NATO member countries agreed to commit a minimum of two per cent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to spending on defence. This guideline principally served as an indicator of a country’s political will to contribute to the Alliance’s common defence efforts. Additionally, the defence capacity of each member country has an important impact on the overall perception of the Alliance’s credibility as a politico-military organisation.
Monday, Mar 27, 2017 · 3:18:12 PM +00:00
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Katydid
Here is what Buzzfeed is reporting on this, so probably fake:
The German government has denied receiving a “bill” or an “invoice” amounting to billions of dollars “owed” by Germany to NATO.
“The reports about the mentioned invoice or bill are wrong,” a government spokesperson told BuzzFeed News on Monday.
“Chancellor Merkel and President Trump discussed the topic of defense expenditure during their talks in Washington. They informed the public about these talks in a press conference,” the spokesperson added.
The German response comes after the Sunday Times reported over the weekend that Donald Trump had handed the German chancellor Angela Merkel a bill — thought to be for more than £300 billion ($374 billion) — for money her country “owed” NATO for defending it when the two leaders met at the White House two weeks ago.