Trump Intends to "Protect Germany from Russia"

At a pre-election meeting with supporters, the US president again criticized the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, because of which Berlin, according to Trump, pays Moscow "billions of dollars." US President Donald Trump has once again sharply criticized Germany over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Berlin pays Moscow "billions of dollars for the new gas pipeline," Trump stated at a campaign meeting with his supporters in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday, June 20. “We must protect Germany from Russia,” the head of the White House urged. The USA and a number of European states oppose the gas pipeline construction. In their opinion, it will strengthen Europe’s dependence on Russian gas supplies. The construction of Nord Stream 2 has been suspended due to US sanctions against European contractors that entered into force in December 2019. Trump estimates Germany’s debt to NATO at $ 1 trillion In addition, the US president again accused Berlin of insufficient, in his opinion, contributions to the NATO budget. For 25 years, Germany owed the North Atlantic Alliance "one trillion dollars," the head of the White House affirmed. NATO's goal is to get at least two percent of GDP by 2024 from each of its member states. Although Germany has significantly increased defense spending in recent years, in 2019 they amounted to 1.38 percent of the country's GDP. On June 15, the US President reiterated his intention to reduce the number of US troops in Germany to 25,000. The decision is due to the fact that Berlin "did not fulfill obligations" to finance NATO, Trump explained then. At present, about 35 thousand US soldiers and officers are deployed in Germany.