US President Donald Trump said he is now "very, very happy" because NATO members have pledged to increase defence spending to levels "never seen before", despite denials from allies like France that additional pledges were made beyond previous targets.
In a press conference in Brussels on Thursday, Trump said NATO members would increase their contribution at a "much faster clip" than scheduled.
"We made a tremendous amount of progress today," Trump said during the surprise news conference.
"The United States' commitment to NATO remains very strong."
French President Emmanuel Macron, however, denied Trump's claim that NATO powers agreed to increase their defence speding beyond what was already committed, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Aside from the United States, which spends about 3.5 percent of GDP on defence, only Britain, Poland, Greece and Estonia currently meet the target.
In 2014, NATO countries committed to spending 2 percent of their gross domestic products on defence by 2024, but NATO has estimated that only 15 members, or just over half, will meet the benchmark by 2024 based on current trends.
"Everybody in the room thanked me," Trump said, adding that eventually the NATO allies will have to increase their contribution to the alliance up to four percent of their gross domestic product.
James Bays, reporting from the Belgian capital, however, said that based on interviews with sources, "nothing it seems, in the closed-door meeting, was resolved".
"President Trump created for the second day a crisis on [NATO] spending. And yet, he came into the news conference and declared victory," Bays said.
Trump himself did not give specific details on when his NATO allies would fulfill the US demands and to what amount. Source: Al jazeera.
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