The NATO summit held in Brussels July 11-12 is off to a rocky start with Trump blasting European allies for not fulfilling their commitment to spend 2 percent of GDP to defense, Sputnik reported.
Later in the day, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed with reporters that US President Donald Trump had requested NATO members to increase their defense spending from two to four percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
"During the President's remarks today at the NATO summit he suggested that countries not only meet their commitment of 2% of their GDP on defense spending but that they increase it to 4%," Sanders said.
Following the statement by the White House, Trump turned to Twitter to express once again his discontent over the NATO member-states defense budget.