"Ridiculous for the U.S.A. to continue along this one sided path when the relationship is not reciprocal. They were not there for us!!!" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday.
The post included a graphic showing defense spending by five NATO members: the United States at USD 999 billion, about 11 times more than the next-highest, Britain, at USD 90.5 billion. France's spending stood at USD 66.5 billion, Italy's at USD 48.8 billion, and Poland's at USD 44.3 billion.
In an earlier post, Trump said the United States "spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far [...] to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing", citing the same figures for the U.S., Britain, France, Italy and Poland, adding that Germany and others were "MUCH LOWER".
The figures Trump cited are estimated defense spending drawn from NATO's own data. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in an annual report published this spring that European NATO members and Canada increased defense spending by 20% in real terms in 2025 compared with the previous year. Poland's spending reached 4.3% of GDP, the highest among NATO members.
Trump has repeatedly said in recent months that he is disappointed with NATO allies, arguing they failed to provide sufficient support to the U.S. in its war with Iran, and has called the alliance a "paper tiger".
The latest post came ahead of a NATO summit opening July 7 in Ankara, Turkey. Last week, Trump said at a meeting with the NATO secretary general that he would attend the summit only out of respect for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, adding that if someone else held the secretary general post, "there would not be this meeting", citing his disappointment with the alliance. He praised Poland and President Karol Nawrocki, however.
Poland will be represented in Ankara by its president, who will travel there with his wife. Polish presidents are typically accompanied at NATO summits by representatives of the defense and foreign ministries.
(jh)
Source: PAP, Polish Radio