Press Secretary (3:34)

John, go ahead.

Reporter (3:35)

Thanks a lot. Caroline, two questions for you. One has to do with a statement, a joint statement put out this morning by some of America's European allies, our NATO allies. And in that joint statement they said regarding the Strait of Hormu, our governments will contribute to ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. What's the administration's reaction to that joint statement? Does that smooth things over? When the President meets with NATO Secretary General a little bit later this afternoon,

Press Secretary (4:03)

I have a direct quote from the President of the United States on NATO and I will share it with all of you. They were tested and they failed. And I would add, it's quite sad that NATO turned their backs on the American people over the course of the last six weeks when it's the American people who have been defeated funding their defense. As you know, President Trump will be meeting with Secretary Ruta in a couple of hours here at the White House. And I know he looks forward to having a very frank and candid conversation with him.

Ben Ferguson (4:28)

Now, before I even get to some of the money aspects of this, let me just talk about the loyalty aspect. All right. There have been repeated moments where NATO allies have been deliberately slow to act. They've also been multiple moments where they've been divided or outright unwilling to step up when it matters the most because it's all about got the money to them, whether it is confronting our adversaries, whether it's increasing their own defense readiness so they're less reliant on the U. S or backing U. S Led initiatives on the global stage. Our NATO allies have been screwing us every chance they get. So what happens if the United States of America stops treating NATO as a one way street? That is the question the media should be asking and they're not. It could actually mean a range of different things happen. It could actually make Europe stand up for themselves more. And that would actually be a good thing for us in this country. It would also force them to more directly meet their obligations to applying economic or even diplomatic pressure on others and saying to their allies within NATO outside the US like, hey, we got to step up and you got to step up. And in other countries like, well, if we're going to step up, then you better step up because then there would be actual accountability. Now, the goal for the White House, I want to be clear and I've talked to the White House about this, is not to abandon NATO. It is to in essence rebalance it as it's been described or even rework it or reorganize it or if, if you really want to look at it for what it is, it needs to have a balance sheet that has changed drastically. The President has made it clear that the current system rewards weakness and dependency. It penalizes the country doing the most to keep the alliance strong, which over and over again is, you guessed it, us, the United States of America and our tax dollars. And for far too long, as Trump has been saying this, America has been expected to do more, spend more, risk more, including our men and women in uniform and the others who are doing the least are benefiting the most from our protections. Now, let's also just talk about the money because this matters. As of the 2024, 2025 budget, that's the latest that we have, the United States is the largest contributor to NATO's direct budget, accounting for approximately 15.8 to 16% of the shared common funded budget. All right, this direct funding, by the way, covers NATO's headquarters, joint operations and infrastructure, amounting to about 572 million to 753 million in 2024. These are the best numbers I have. That's a hell of a lot of our tax dollars. Now, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Extended Group is very interesting because here's the breakdown of the U S funding. Number one, direct funding. That is the common budget. It is a percentage share. The U. S Contributes about 1/6 of NATO's direct annual budget, which totaled around 3.5 billion in 2024. Now, as of March of 2024, the US and Germany shared the highest percentage, both paying 15.88% of the common funded budget. You go back and look at the 2019 agreement, all right, it reduced the U. S share from 22% to about 16. That would be matching Germany. Then NATO has another part, and that's their Indirect funding. That's defense spending. There's a 2% target. NATO members aim to spend 2% of their own gross domestic product on national defense. Now the U. S is spinning, for example, in 2023, about 3.549% of its GDP on defense and total defense output. In terms of raw dollars, the U. S accounts for roughly 60 to 62% of the total defense spending of all NATO nations combined. What does that mean? We're the ones doing all the work and they're getting the benefit of our hard work. That is estimated to be about $1 trillion in 2025. That number is going to go up in 2026 because of what's happening in Iran. Just so you understand now, the recent quote, promises or developments have been a 5% target. Following pressure from the Trump administration that NATO allies in June of 2025 agreed to a new non binding goal of increasing spending defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. Guess what? Most of the countries aren't moving at all because it kicked the can down the road a decade to 2035. All right. European allies in Canada have significantly increased their spending, however, with estimates suggesting all members would meet the 2% target, at least now for the first time. But there's still far too many other countries that are not doing it. This goes back to exactly what I said about the president of the United States of America. Donald Trump understands that unless you're willing to walk away and directly criticize these, quote, allies and say, good luck defending yourself, nothing will change. Nothing at all will change. And the president knows that. So is it time for America to say to our allies, our fake allies in NATO, good luck, like, defend yourself, good luck. Yes, overwhelmingly, that is exactly what we should be doing. I think there's a very good chance that is where we're headed. I think there's a very good chance that this is what the future is going to look like. And I'm honestly beyond thrilled that this is what's happening.

Ben Ferguson (10:35)

Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. And for more in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast and we will see you back here on Monday morning.