WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Former President Donald Trump got the attention of leaders on both sides of the Atlantic over the weekend when he said he would encourage Russia to attack fellow NATO members that do not contribute as much funding for the organization as the United States.
He continued to criticize NATO and its other members this week over what he considers their relative lack of support for Ukraine. He posted to social media that there is a $150 billion difference in the amount the United States has sent to Ukraine compared to the rest of NATO, and that they should make up the gap.
QUESTION
Has the U.S. spent $150 billion more to fund Ukraine’s defense than other NATO members?
SOURCES
ANSWER
The United States has spent only a small amount more than other NATO member nations.
WHAT WE FOUND
Starting when Donald Trump was a candidate for president, he focused on disparities in how much NATO members paid to fund the organization’s defense operations, saying the United States paid a outsized share. Last weekend, during a campaign rally, he told a crowd in South Carolina that he once threatened a fellow NATO nation's leader that he would "encourage" Russia to do "whatever the hell they want" to allies he felt were "delinquent" in their obligations to the group.
The North Atlantic Treaty, created in 1949, says that its members "separately and jointly, by means on continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid, will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack." Thus, both spending on a nation's own military and NATO forces are required to remain in good standing.
NATO data over the last 10 years show that while the U.S. is spending less now on defense in relation to its gross domestic product, the rest of NATO is spending more.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, countries from around the world offered financial, military, and humanitarian support to Ukraine to help the country defend itself.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy tracks how much every country has contributed to aid Ukraine. It reports that the United States has spent more than any other country, with contributions totaling $78.38 billion.
That alone makes the former president’s claim false. But other NATO members have spent $69.54 billion. Therefore, the gap between American contributions to Ukraine and those of the other NATO members is less than $9 billion.
