Trump won’t ensure US NATO membership

In an NBC News interview, president-elect Donald Trump will not guarantee that the US will remain in NATO, stipulating the condition that member nations must ‘pay their bills’ for the US to consider staying in the alliance. Scheduled to take office on January 20 after his November 5th election win, Trump has questioned the US obligation to defend allies who do not contribute adequately to their defense budgets. This stance has challenged the traditional leading role of the US in NATO. The alliance sets a defense spending goal of at least two percent of GDP for its members, a threshold most members, including Denmark, now meet, with an expectation that 23 will reach it by 2024. The war in Ukraine has prompted NATO members to substantially raise their defense budgets, with Poland anticipated to spend the highest percentage of its GDP on defense.