Reported today: Anyway, both sides are denying that Trump produced any invoice for Merkel. “The reports about the mentioned invoice or bill are wrong,” a German government spokesman told BuzzFeed this morning, while Sean Spicer reassured Business Insider that it never happened.
Frankly, this sounds like something Trump would do, lol. The Hill, Politico and Slate false reports are listed below. There were many others that ran the same story.
Trump handed $377B NATO 'invoice' to German chancellor: report
BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 03/26/17 01:50 PM EDT 1,911
11,236
Trump To Attend NATO Meeting
This hit all the news last week. But today, both the German and the U.S. government denied vigorously that his ever h
President Trump gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel a staff-created bill for NATO defenses estimated at $377 billion, The Times of Londonreported on Sunday.
Trump reportedly handed Merkel the invoice during her trip to Washington, D.C., earlier this month.
The Times estimated the bill at 300 billion pounds, which is just over $377 billion at current exchange rates.
“The concept behind putting out such demands is to intimidate the other side, but the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations,” a German minister told the newspaper.
From Politico:
U.S. President Donald Trump handed German Chancellor Angela Merkel a bill for money supposedly owed to NATO when they met last weekend in Washington DC,the Sunday Times reported.
The gesture was “outrageous,” the paper quoted an unnamed German minister as saying. “The concept behind putting out such demands is to intimidate the other side, but the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations,” the minister is further cited as saying.
According to the Times, the bill handed to Merkel was thought to be for more than $300 billion. It was reportedly calculated by adding the amounts by which Germany have fallen short on annual payments to NATO since 2002 — and adding interest.
Merkel “ignored the provocation,” the Times reported.
The White House disputed the reports on Sunday afternoon and told The Hill the story is false.
Trump during his presidential campaign railed against the NATO alliance and has called for member countries to increase defense spending to support the organization.
The Independent reported that the “invoice” listed a total, as estimated by Trump's aides, to cover Germany’s unpaid contributions.
In 2014, NATO countries pledge to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense. The Independent reported that Trump told aides to calculate how much German spending fell below that 2 percent mark in the past 12 years — backdating the invoice to when Merkel's predecessor was in charge — then add interest.
In a joint press conference with Merkel during her visit, Trump told reporters that he emphasized the United States’ commitment to NATO and the need for allies to increase defense spending.
From Slate:
We all knew that the White House meeting between President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been awkward. But things were even more uncomfortable than we thought. Turns out Trump’s version of diplomacy with one of the country’s most important allies in Europe involves handing over a bill for billions of dollars that the White House believes it owes NATO, according to the Times of London.
One German minister did not hesitate to qualify the invoice as “outrageous,” saying the intent was clear. “The concept behind putting out such demands is to intimidate the other side, but the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations,” the minister said.
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Although no one confirmed how much the total invoice was for, a calculation by the Times suggests the total was around $312 billion for the shortfall in spending and around $62 billion in interest.
Trump has long criticized Germany and numerous other NATO countries for failing to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense, as they had pledged to do in 2014. So how did the White House get to $374 billion? It went further back, taking 2002 as a starting point, noting that was when Merkel’s predecessor vowed to boost spending on defense.
“The president has a very unorthodox view on NATO defense spending,” an official tells the Times. That is one polite way of putting it; others have flat out said that Trump’s statements on NATO suggest he really does not understand how the alliance is funded.
Merkel reportedly “ignored the provocation.” She appears to be a bit more adept at diplomacy than her U.S. counterpart.
Frankly, this sounds like something Trump would do, lol. The Hill, Politico and Slate false reports are listed below. There were many others that ran the same story.
Trump handed $377B NATO 'invoice' to German chancellor: report
BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 03/26/17 01:50 PM EDT 1,911
11,236
Trump To Attend NATO Meeting
This hit all the news last week. But today, both the German and the U.S. government denied vigorously that his ever h
President Trump gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel a staff-created bill for NATO defenses estimated at $377 billion, The Times of Londonreported on Sunday.
Trump reportedly handed Merkel the invoice during her trip to Washington, D.C., earlier this month.
The Times estimated the bill at 300 billion pounds, which is just over $377 billion at current exchange rates.
“The concept behind putting out such demands is to intimidate the other side, but the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations,” a German minister told the newspaper.
From Politico:
U.S. President Donald Trump handed German Chancellor Angela Merkel a bill for money supposedly owed to NATO when they met last weekend in Washington DC,the Sunday Times reported.
The gesture was “outrageous,” the paper quoted an unnamed German minister as saying. “The concept behind putting out such demands is to intimidate the other side, but the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations,” the minister is further cited as saying.
According to the Times, the bill handed to Merkel was thought to be for more than $300 billion. It was reportedly calculated by adding the amounts by which Germany have fallen short on annual payments to NATO since 2002 — and adding interest.
Merkel “ignored the provocation,” the Times reported.
The White House disputed the reports on Sunday afternoon and told The Hill the story is false.
Trump during his presidential campaign railed against the NATO alliance and has called for member countries to increase defense spending to support the organization.
The Independent reported that the “invoice” listed a total, as estimated by Trump's aides, to cover Germany’s unpaid contributions.
In 2014, NATO countries pledge to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense. The Independent reported that Trump told aides to calculate how much German spending fell below that 2 percent mark in the past 12 years — backdating the invoice to when Merkel's predecessor was in charge — then add interest.
In a joint press conference with Merkel during her visit, Trump told reporters that he emphasized the United States’ commitment to NATO and the need for allies to increase defense spending.
From Slate:
We all knew that the White House meeting between President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been awkward. But things were even more uncomfortable than we thought. Turns out Trump’s version of diplomacy with one of the country’s most important allies in Europe involves handing over a bill for billions of dollars that the White House believes it owes NATO, according to the Times of London.
One German minister did not hesitate to qualify the invoice as “outrageous,” saying the intent was clear. “The concept behind putting out such demands is to intimidate the other side, but the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations,” the minister said.
ADVERTISING
Although no one confirmed how much the total invoice was for, a calculation by the Times suggests the total was around $312 billion for the shortfall in spending and around $62 billion in interest.
Trump has long criticized Germany and numerous other NATO countries for failing to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense, as they had pledged to do in 2014. So how did the White House get to $374 billion? It went further back, taking 2002 as a starting point, noting that was when Merkel’s predecessor vowed to boost spending on defense.
“The president has a very unorthodox view on NATO defense spending,” an official tells the Times. That is one polite way of putting it; others have flat out said that Trump’s statements on NATO suggest he really does not understand how the alliance is funded.
Merkel reportedly “ignored the provocation.” She appears to be a bit more adept at diplomacy than her U.S. counterpart.
