Mattis calls on NATO allies to pay their 'fair' share

Reiterating a campaign pledge made by President Trump, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis today prodded his NATO counterparts to pony up the money they owe to pay for the alliance's common security.

"A decade ago, when I was serving as Supreme Allied Commander for Transformation, I watched then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warn members of this Council that Congress and the American body politic would lose their patience for carrying a disproportionate burden of the defense of Allies," Mattis said in a North Atlantic Council speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Mattis noted that only five nations meet the 2 percent defense spending target: the United Kingdom, Estonia, Poland, Greece and the United States. "A number of other nations have demonstrated that they will meet that spending target. By contrast, the commitment of other nations lags considerably despite benefiting from the best defense in the world.

"The impatience Secretary Gates predicted is now a governmental reality," Mattis continued. "As noted by a European minister of defense, calling for 2 percent defense spending is a 'fair' demand from the American people to their long-time allies and friends in Europe. . . . No longer can the American taxpayer carry a disproportionate share of the defense of western values."

Mattis told his fellow ministers that the United States "will meet its responsibilities, but if your nations do not want to see America moderate its commitment to this Alliance, each of your capitals needs to show support for our common defense."