ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT — Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday that he will speak with NATO allies in Brussels this week about increasing their financial contributions to 2 percent of gross domestic product that each member promised.
“You can bet that a continuing theme here and in Warsaw will be the need for all countries to meet their pledged 2 percent and, of course, ideally more,” Carter told reporters aboard his plane just before landing in Brussels. “Absolutely for sure I will be emphasizing that.”
Donald Trump has criticized NATO on the campaign trail, saying that it’s obsolete and calling for other members to pay their share.
“There’s nothing wrong with saying that a concept was good, but now it’s obsolete or now it’s outmoded,” Trump said in March, repeating his previous position that the U.S. pays a disproportionate amount to NATO.
Asked how that criticism may shape the upcoming days of meetings, Carter declined to wade into political talk or the race for the White House.
“Don’t ask me a question that’ll lead to the campaign,” he said.
Carter will be in Brussels Monday through Wednesday for meetings with other foreign military leaders at his fourth defense ministerial since becoming secretary and the last before the Warsaw Summit in Poland next month.
He plans to discuss how to strengthen deterrence with a stronger NATO posture with a “new NATO playbook” that he expects to finalize next month in Warsaw as well as the group’s nuclear posture.
Carter also said he plans to speak with other defense leaders about the administration’s recent decision to step up the air campaign in Afghanistan.
The secretary also said he intends to ask NATO members to contribute more to the fight against the Islamic State, noting that the support of the NATO organization would still help the fight even though all members are part of the coalition.
“I’m always asking for more. We’ll continue to ask for more from everybody, including ourselves,” he said.
