US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pressed NATO allies Friday to ramp up military spending and denounced Russia's 'aggression' in Ukraine, toughening the Trump administration's tone toward Moscow.

Tillerson delivered the message as he met fellow NATO foreign ministers for the first time ahead of a May 25 summit to be attended by leaders including President Donald Trump.

'As President Trump has made clear, it is no longer sustainable for the US to maintain a disproportionate share of NATO's defense expenditures,' Tillerson said in Brussels.

He urged his fellow foreign ministers to agree at the May summit to produce plans by the end of the year to meet the spending pledge.

NATO countries originally agreed at a summit in Wales in 2014 to contribute the equivalent of two percent of their gross domestic product to defence.

Seeking to draw a line under the funding row, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has sought to play down concerns that Trump is less committed to the 28-nation alliance than his predecessors.

'We see a strong US commitment to NATO, to the transatlantic bond not only in words but also in deeds,' Stoltenberg said, citing increased US military deployments in eastern Europe.

Former Norwegian premier Stoltenberg said the European allies themselves realised the need to meet the citing conflicts to the east and south of its borders.

Tillerson's remarks were tougher than those previously made by Trump or his cabinet officials who have stressed better US relations with Moscow after they had sunk to a low under President Barack Obama over the crisis in Ukraine.

'We want to have a discussion around NATO's posture in Europe, most particularly in eastern Europe in response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine and elsewhere,' Tillerson told reporters.

In his speech, Tillerson added that NATO was 'fundamental to countering both non-violent, but at times violent, Russian agitation and Russian aggression.'

US officials said Tillerson would work with NATO allies to press Russia to fulfil its obligations under the Minsk agreements to end the war in eastern Ukraine.

Russia in 2014 annexed Crimea from Ukraine and backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Allies have been alarmed at the prospect of Trump seeking to improve relations with Russia at the expense of support for the pro-Western government in Ukraine or NATO allies in former Soviet parts of eastern Europe.

Their concerns were reinforced when Tillerson initially planned to skip the NATO meeting, citing various commitments including a trip to Russia.

But Tillerson, a press-shy former oilman who had friendly ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, agreed to attend when NATO rescheduled the meeting for Friday.

A senior NATO official told reporters Thursday on condition of anonymity that the Trump administration was now taking a more 'mainstream' approach to the alliance and anxiety among allies had eased.

GERMANY SAYS IT'S 'TOTALLY UNREALISTIC' TO PAY FAIR SHARE

Tillerson arrived in Brussels following a visit to Turkey, a NATO ally and key player in both Syria and Iraq where Washington wants to defeat the Islamic State group.

In the last two years, ISIS has claimed or hailed a wave of deadly attacks in US and European cities, including Brussels.

NATO's 2016 annual report said only five countries met the two per cent target – the United States, Britain, Greece, Poland and Estonia – while Washington still accounted for nearly 70 per cent of combined alliance defence spending.

During a visit to NATO in February, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis voiced staunch support for NATO but warned that Washington could 'moderate' its commitment if allies fail to pay up.

Trump said after a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel this month that Germany owes 'vast sums of money' to NATO and the US.

But German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said it was 'totally unrealistic' for his country to meet the two per cent target.

A NATO official told reporters however that Tillerson's funding demands were 'well received' by the ministers, who told him what they were doing to meet their pledges.</s>Image copyright Getty Images Image caption German troops are currently deployed in Mali to help the government fight rebels

Calls by the Trump administration for Germany and other Nato partners to increase spending on defence have been rejected by Germany.

Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said it was "quite unrealistic" to believe Germany would spend 2% of its economic output on the military.

Other spending such as development aid, he said, should be taken into account.

However, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg echoed US calls for member states to pay an equal proportion.

"Diplomacy, development aid, economic co-operation can be important to help stabilise a region," Mr Stoltenberg told a news conference after Nato talks in Brussels.

"We have international targets, guidelines, for development aid, 0.7% of GDP [gross domestic product], and then we have a Nato agreement on moving towards 2%. But those are two different things... It is not either development or security, it is development and security."

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told his counterparts in Brussels that by the next Nato summit - to be held in Brussels in less than eight weeks' time - there should be a commitment to produce clear plans to demonstrate how each country would meet its spending commitments.

"As President [Donald] Trump has made clear, it is no longer sustainable for the US to maintain a disproportionate share of Nato's defence expenditures," he said.

According to Nato's 2016 annual report, only five countries met the 2% target - the US, the UK, Greece, Poland and Estonia. By contrast, Germany spent 1.2% on defence.

However, according to latest OECD available figures based on gross national income, Germany spent more in relative terms on overseas development aid in 2015 than the US - 0.52% of GNI compared with 0.17% for America.

'Russia's aggression'

The meeting of Nato foreign ministers, originally scheduled for next week, was brought forward to suit Mr Tillerson's schedule.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Rex Tillerson (L) met Ukraine's foreign minister

The US secretary of state told Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, who was also at the meeting, that American and Nato support for Ukraine remained "steadfast" after "Russia's aggression against Ukraine" three years ago, when it annexed Crimea.

"Today, Russia's ongoing hostility and occupation is compromising our shared vision of a Europe that is whole, free and at peace," Mr Tillerson said.

Russia's foreign ministry responded in a statement (in Russian) by accusing Nato of spreading "the myth of a 'Russian threat'" and "the slander of 'Russian aggression'".

"The US and its allies are obsessed with building up their military presence on our borders, justifying it with the need to 'restrain Russia'," the Russian ministry said.

During Mr Tillerson's congressional confirmation hearings this year, opponents of his nomination expressed fears that the former head of Exxon Mobil would be too close to Russia, having had good relations with President Vladimir Putin.

Rex Tillerson - the wild card diplomat</s>(Reuters) U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reassured his nervous European counterparts over Washington’s commitment to NATO on Friday and pressed them again to spend more on defense, triggering a rebuke from Germany.

Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said it was neither “reachable nor desirable” for Germany to spend the agreed NATO target of two percent of member states’ economic output on defense. NATO allies have until 2024 to do that.

“Two percent would mean military expenses of some 70 billion euros. I don’t know any German politician who would claim that is reachable nor desirable,” Gabriel told the first meeting of NATO foreign ministers attended by Tillerson.</s>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reassured his nervous European counterparts over Washington's commitment to NATO on Friday and pressed them again to spend more on defense, triggering a rebuke from Germany.

Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said it was neither "reachable nor desirable" for Germany to spend the agreed NATO target of two percent of member states' economic output on defense. NATO allies have until 2024 to do that.

"Two percent would mean military expenses of some 70 billion euros. I don't know any German politician who would claim that is reachable nor desirable," Gabriel told the first meeting of NATO foreign ministers attended by Tillerson.

"The United States will realize it is better to talk about better spending instead of more spending," he said, noting that humanitarian, development and economic aid to stabilize countries and regions should also count.

Tillerson said allies will need to pay up or outline plans for meeting that target when NATO leaders meet on May 25 for the first top-level summit of the alliance to be attended by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has criticized NATO as "obsolete" and suggested Washington's security guarantees for European allies could be conditional on them spending more on their own defense. He has also said he wants NATO to do more to fight terrorism.

"Our goal should be to agree at the May leaders meeting that by the end of the year all allies will have either met the pledge guidelines or will have developed plans that clearly articulate how...the pledge will be fulfilled," Tillerson said.

"Allies must demonstrate by their actions that they share U.S. government's commitment."

In Berlin, German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the government was committed to increasing defense spending and would continue to do so "because we know it is necessary and makes sense to further strengthen our armed forces".

U.S. defense expenditure makes up about 70 percent of the total NATO allies' defense spending. Only four European NATO members - Estonia, Greece, Poland and Britain - meet the two-percent target.

NATO head Jens Stoltenberg rejected Gabriel's call to include non-military spending toward the goal, but said Germany was moving "in the right direction" with more military spending after years of cuts.

He said NATO ministers on Friday discussed national plans for arriving at the target as they prepared for the May summit.

In London, Britain's Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that other European NATO allies must "raise their game, and those failing to meet the two-percent commitment... should at least agree to year-on-year real terms increases."

Tillerson did however offer assurances of Washington's commitment to NATO during his brief stop in Brussels, although U.S. officials said he did not have time for one-on-one meetings, which are customary during such gatherings.

His initial decision to skip his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers had added to questions about the Trump administration's commitment. The meeting was later rescheduled and he attended on Friday.

"The United States is committed to ensuring NATO has the capabilities to support our collective defense," Tillerson said. "We will uphold the agreements we have made to defend our allies."

Tillerson said NATO was fundamental to countering Russian aggression in Ukraine. A meeting on Thursday between ambassadors from NATO and Russia called on Moscow to do more to rein in the Moscow-allied separatists battling Kiev's forces there.

Stoltenberg said ties between European NATO members and the United States were "rock solid".

He said "fair burden sharing to keep the trans-atlantic bond strong" and "stepping up NATO efforts to project stability and fight terrorism" were on the agenda on Friday as the bloc seeks to respond to the new, harsher tone from across the Atlantic.</s>Rex Tillerson, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil, testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing to become U.S. Secretary of State on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. January 11, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reassured his nervous European counterparts over Washington’s commitment to NATO on Friday and pressed them again to spend more on defense, triggering a rebuke from Germany.

Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said it was neither “reachable nor desirable” for Germany to spend the agreed NATO target of two percent of member states’ economic output on defense. NATO allies have until 2024 to do that.

“Two percent would mean military expenses of some 70 billion euros. I don’t know any German politician who would claim that is reachable nor desirable,” Gabriel told the first meeting of NATO foreign ministers attended by Tillerson.

“The United States will realize it is better to talk about better spending instead of more spending,” he said, noting that humanitarian, development and economic aid to stabilize countries and regions should also count.

In his first remarks to NATO ministers, Tillerson said allies needed to pay up or outline plans for meeting that target when NATO leaders meet on May 25 for the first top-level summit of the alliance to be attended by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has criticized NATO as “obsolete” and suggested Washington’s security guarantees for European allies could be conditional on them spending more on their own defense. He has also said he wants NATO to do more to fight terrorism.

“Our goal should be to agree at the May leaders meeting that by the end of the year all allies will have either met the pledge guidelines or will have developed plans that clearly articulate how…the pledge will be fulfilled,” Tillerson said.

“Allies must demonstrate by their actions that they share U.S. government’s commitment.”

In Berlin, German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the government was committed to increasing defense spending and would continue to do so “because we know it is necessary and makes sense to further strengthen our armed forces”.

U.S. defense expenditure makes up about 70 percent of the total NATO allies’ defense spending. Only four European NATO members – Estonia, Greece, Poland and Britain – meet the two-percent target.

NATO head Jens Stoltenberg rejected Gabriel’s call to include non-military spending toward the goal, but said Germany was moving “in the right direction” with more military spending after years of cuts.

He said NATO ministers on Friday discussed national plans for arriving at the target as they prepared for the May summit.

In London, Britain’s Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that other European NATO allies must “raise their game, and those failing to meet the two-percent commitment… should at least agree to year-on-year real terms increases.”

Tillerson did, however, offer assurances of Washington’s commitment to NATO during his brief stop in Brussels, where he did not hold one-on-one meetings with countries, which is customary during such gatherings.

His initial decision to skip his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers had added to questions about the Trump administration’s commitment. The meeting was later rescheduled and he attended on Friday.

“The United States is committed to ensuring NATO has the capabilities to support our collective defense,” Tillerson said. “We will uphold the agreements we have made to defend our allies.”

Tillerson said NATO was fundamental to countering Russian aggression in Ukraine and said the United States would hold Moscow accountable to its commitments under a two-year Minsk ceasefire deal. He pledged to keep sanctions in place against Moscow until it complies with the Minsk agreement.

Trump has said in the past that, as part of a rapprochement he is seeking with Russia, he is prepared to review the sanctions, which were imposed by Barack Obama over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula.

“We do not, and will not, accept Russian efforts to change the borders of territory of Ukraine,” Tillerson said according to a transcript of his remarks.

“The United States sanctions will remain until Moscow reverses the actions that triggered our sanctions,” he added, expressing alarm at a surge in violence along the front lines in eastern Ukraine.

Stoltenberg said ties between European NATO members and the United States were “rock solid”.

He said “fair burden sharing to keep the trans-atlantic bond strong” and “stepping up NATO efforts to project stability and fight terrorism” were on the agenda on Friday as the bloc seeks to respond to the new, harsher tone from across the Atlantic.</s>BRUSSELS – In his first meeting with NATO, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday delivered a firm rebuke of Russian “aggression” and promised allies that the United States will stand by their side – while also demanding they spend more on defense and do more to fight terrorism.

Tillerson participated in abbreviated discussions with foreign ministers from the 27 other NATO member nations, who were sent scrambling last week to accommodate the top U.S. diplomat after he said he could not attend the meeting originally planned for early April.

What was supposed to be a two-day meeting was compressed into a half-day of talks; Tillerson spent just under five hours at NATO headquarters in Brussels and left for Washington before NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg gave a closing news conference.

The foreign ministers’ meeting is crucial because it lays the groundwork for a NATO summit with heads of state in May, which will be President Donald Trump’s first overseas trip since taking office. Trump has had to work hard to dispel doubts he created about his commitment to NATO, an alliance that has served as the foundation of Western security since World War II.

“The United States is committed to ensuring NATO has the capabilities to support our collective defense. We understand that a threat against one of us is a threat against all of us,” Tillerson said.

But, he added, “as President Trump has made clear, it is no longer sustainable for the U.S. to maintain a disproportionate share of NATO’s defense expenditures.”

The United States is amping up pressure on NATO members to increase their defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product, in line with a 2014 agreement among the alliance’s member countries to meet the target by 2024.

Only five NATO countries meet the 2 percent threshold. The U.S. spends 3.61 percent of its GDP on defense, more than any other member of the alliance.

Tillerson said that if countries have not met the 2 percent spending goal by the end of the year, they should at least have a concrete plan “that clearly articulates how, with annual milestone progress commitments, the pledge will be fulfilled.”

Pressure to meet that strict deadline is likely to upset some allies.

German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told reporters before Friday’s meeting that he thinks it would be “completely unrealistic” for Germany to bring its military defense spending up to 2 percent of GDP.

“I don’t know any politician in Germany who thinks that this would be reachable or desirable,” Gabriel said.

The allies’ agreement to boost spending is a loose set of guidelines, but is not binding, Gabriel argued.

Germany is increasing its military spending this year to $39 billion, or 1.2 percent of its GDP. Gabriel rejected the Trump administration’s focus on military expenditures, arguing that humanitarian aid and Germany’s spending to take in refugees should be considered part of the defense budget.

Other foreign ministers were more accepting of the Trump administration’s pressure to step up defense spending. Several countries have signaled they will start spending 2 percent of GDP before the 2024 deadline. Romania says it will reach 2 percent this year.

In private talks with the ministers, Tillerson harshly criticized Russian “aggression” and “intimidation” in Ukraine and pointedly blamed Russia for a recent escalation in violence there. He said, twice, that U.S. sanctions slapped on Moscow as punishment would remain in place. This was significant because in his previous career as CEO of ExxonMobil, Tillerson had lobbied against the sanctions, which he said were causing the firm to lose money on exploration deals in Russia.

Several ministers from Eastern European countries said they were reassured by Tillerson’s rebuke of Russia. There have been concerns that Trump would seek closer ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Baltic countries Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia see Russia’s intervention in Ukraine as a particular threat.

Estonian Foreign Minister Sven Mikser also seemed satisfied. “When it comes to security and defense, I think we are going to see much more continuity than perhaps we expected,” Mikser said. “I think we may see greater or a bigger departure from (former President) Obama’s policies in other areas” such as trade and environmental policy.

Tillerson also called on allies to take a greater role in the fight against terrorism.

“NATO can and should do more,” he said. “Fighting terrorism is the top national security priority for the United States, as it should be for all of us.”

Ministers said they wanted to hear specific proposals for the fight on terrorism.

“There is a willingness to involve NATO more,” Rinkevics said. “What would be very good is that we also use those two months (until the May meeting) not only talking about defense spending, which is very important, but also preparing more concrete decisions.”

Tillerson’s earlier announcement that he would skip the ministerial meeting struck a nerve among the alliance members, coming at a sensitive time when tensions between the Trump administration and NATO allies have soared.

The schedule change caused an awkward protocol shuffle, with a handful of foreign ministers unable to make it to Brussels.

British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson described Tillerson’s message as the need to adapt.

“The reason (NATO) is the most successful alliance in history is because it’s continually been able to adapt,” Johnson said. “Obviously we face new challenges now from Russia, a resurgent Russia getting up to all kinds of mischief in the Western Balkans and elsewhere. . The crucial message . is that as NATO adapts and faces new challenges, we have to fund this organization properly.”

Stoltenberg praised what he described as “trans-Atlantic unity.” “The meeting today was important because it was one meeting in a series of meetings where the new U.S. administration has come to Europe and expressed strong commitment to NATO, to the transatlantic bond,” Stoltenberg said.

“I believe it’s very important to remember that fair burden-sharing or increased defense spending across Europe and Canada is not just something you have to do to please the United States,” he added. “It is about investing in our own security, in the security of Europe, because Europe is very close to the turmoil, the violence in North Africa, Iraq, Syria, and we’re closer also to Russia.”

PHOTO (for help with images, contact 312-222-4194): TILLERSON</s>BRUSSELS, March 31 (Reuters) - Germany said on Friday that NATO's agreed target spend of two percent of members' yearly economic output was neither "reachable nor desirable" countering a call by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for all allies to comply and quickly.

The United States provides nearly 70 percent of NATO's budget and is demanding that NATO allies make clear progress towards the agreed target this year. Only four European NATO members - Estonia, Greece, Poland and Britain - have done so.

"Two percent would mean military expenses of some 70 billion euros. I don't know any German politician who would claim that is reachable nor desirable," Germany's Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said at the first NATO meeting attended by Tillerson.

Tillerson, however, reiterated Washington's demands and said allies will need to pay up or outline plans for how they plan to meet the threshold when NATO leaders meet on May 25 for the first top-level summit of the alliance. U.S. President Donald Trump will attend that meeting.

"Our goal should be to agree at the May leaders meeting that by the end of the year all allies will have either met the pledge guidelines or will have developed plans that clearly articulate how...the pledge will be fulfilled," Tillerson said.

"Allies must demonstrate by their actions that they share U.S. governments commitment."

In Berlin, German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the government was committed to increasing defence spending and would continue to do so "because we know it is necessary and makes sense to further strengthen our armed forces".

Members have until 2024 to comply with the spending target.

Tillerson did however offer assurances of Washington's commitment to NATO during his brief stop in Brussels, although U.S. officials said he did not have time for one-on-one meetings, which are customary during such meetings.

Trump has criticised NATO as "obsolete" and suggested Washington's security guarantees for European allies could be conditional on them spending more on their own defence. He has also said he wants NATO to do more to fight terrorism.

"The United States is committed to ensuring NATO has the capabilities to support our collective defense," Tillerson said at the meeting in Brussels. "We will uphold the agreements we have made to defend our allies."

Tillerson said the NATO alliance was fundamental to countering Russian aggression, in particular in Ukraine. A meeting on Thursday between ambassadors from NATO and Russia called on Moscow to do more to rein in armed separatists battling Kiev's forces.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said ties between European NATO members and the United States were "rock solid".

He said the ministers would discuss "fair burden sharing to keep the trans-atlantic bond strong" and "stepping up NATO efforts to project stability and fight terrorism".

Stoltenberg confirmed ministers would discuss national defence spending plans on Friday as the bloc seeks to respond to the new, harsher tone from across the Atlantic, which has galvanised European NATO allies.

Though Washington offered reassurances, Tillerson's initial decision to skip his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers had reopened questions about the Trump administration's commitment to the alliance. The meeting was later rescheduled. (Additional reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Louise Ireland)</s>Germany said on Friday that NATO’s agreed target spend of two percent of members’ yearly economic output was neither “reachable nor desirable”, countering Washington’s demands that European partners comply and quickly.

The United States provides nearly 70 percent of NATO’s budget and is demanding that all allies make clear progress toward the agreed target this year. Only four European NATO members – Estonia, Greece, Poland and Britain – have done so.

“Two percent would mean military expenses of some 70 billion euros. I don’t know any German politician who would claim that is reachable nor desirable,” Germany’s Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said at the first NATO meeting attended by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Tillerson, however, reiterated Washington’s demands and said the U.S. will push that agenda when NATO leaders meet on May 25 for the first top-level summit of the alliance. U.S. President Donald Trump will attend that meeting.

“Our goal should be to agree at the May Leaders meeting that by the end of the year all Allies will have either met the pledge guidelines or will have developed plans that clearly articulate how…the pledge will be fulfilled,” Tillerson said.

“Allies must demonstrate by their actions that they share U.S. governments commitment.”

In Berlin, German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the government was committed to increasing defense spending and would continue to do so “because we know it is necessary and makes sense to further strengthen our armed forces”.

Members have until 2024 to comply with the spending target.

Tillerson did however offer assurances of Washington’s commitment to NATO, softening Trump’s stance.

Trump has criticized NATO as “obsolete” and suggested Washington’s security guarantees for European allies could be conditional on them spending more on their own defense. He has also said he wants NATO to do more to fight terrorism.

“The United States is committed to ensuring NATO has the capabilities to support our collective defense,” Tillerson said at the meeting in Brussels. “We will uphold the agreements we have made to defend our allies.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said ties between European NATO members and the United States were “rock solid”.

He said the ministers would discuss “fair burden sharing to keep the trans-atlantic bond strong” and “stepping up NATO efforts to project stability and fight terrorism”.

Stoltenberg confirmed ministers would discuss national defense spending plans on Friday as the bloc seeks to respond to the new, harsher tone from across the Atlantic, which has galvanized European NATO allies.

Though Washington has also offered reassurances, Tillerson’s initial decision to skip his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers reopened questions about the Trump administration’s commitment to the alliance.

The meeting was later rescheduled and Tillerson was attending on Friday, though has not scheduled meetings with individual countries as is customary by the secretary of state during such a meeting.</s>BRUSSELS — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday ratcheted up pressure on NATO allies to increase their defense spending, amid pushback from Germany’s top diplomat over President Donald Trump’s single-minded effort to boost the military budgets of members of the Western military alliance.

The meeting of NATO’s 28 foreign ministers – hastily rescheduled after Tillerson initially announced he would skip it in favor of a meeting with China’s leader – came amid fears of U.S. commitment to the alliance following Trump’s calls to increase spending. Tillerson said he wanted NATO leaders to agree at a May summit to come up with concrete plans by the end of the year to meet budget guidelines.

“As President Trump has made clear, it is no longer sustainable for the U.S. to maintain a disproportionate share of NATO’s defense expenditures,” Tillerson told the foreign ministers. “Allies must increase defense spending.”

The effort came after resistance from German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who said that the push from Washington was unrealistic and based on a mistaken interpretation of the spending targets, which are not binding. Germany is NATO’s largest economy after the United States, but it lags far behind in its defense spending. Twisting Berlin’s arm to increase its military efforts is key to Trump’s effort to pass some of Europe’s defense burdens back to U.S. partners.

“More money doesn’t mean more security,” said Gabriel, who is a member of Germany’s center-left Social Democratic Party and has long been skeptical of defense spending increases. He said that to expect Germany to reach NATO spending guidelines would require an additional $37 billion a year and was “totally unrealistic.” NATO leaders have pledged to increase annual defense outlays to two percent of their gross domestic products by 2024, but the targets were not requirements.

After Trump met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in mid-March, he wrote on Twitter that “Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!”

Merkel and her center-right Christian Democratic allies, who rule in a coalition with Gabriel’s center-left party, have been more willing than Gabriel to entertain Trump’s requests. Defense increases are broadly unpopular in Germany ahead of September elections, and some of Gabriel’s aggressive push was for domestic consumption. But he rejected out of hand Tillerson’s proposal that nations create spending plans with specific, year-by-year targets, setting up a showdown for the May summit.

NATO diplomats said that the closed-door meetings with Tillerson were cordial. But some quietly criticized him for spending less than five hours on the ground in Brussels before returning to the United States before the meetings fully finished. Previous secretaries of state have often given news conferences at the end of such conclaves; Tillerson took no questions in Brussels.

Many diplomats counted it as a victory to have convinced Tillerson to come in the first place. The gathering was initially scheduled for next week, overlapping with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Florida to meet Trump. Tillerson planned to skip the NATO event, meaning that he would have met with Chinese and Russian leaders before he met with his alliance counterparts.

“Going to Moscow before seeing members of the alliance did not go down well,” a senior NATO diplomat said ahead of the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity to talk frankly about allied perceptions of the Trump administration.

Tillerson also repeated U.S. desires for NATO to do more to fight terrorism, but he offered no concrete requests and said that the Trump administration was still working on specific roles in which NATO could do more. Although NATO has increased training for Iraqi troops and offered its AWACS surveillance planes to help efforts to defeat the Islamic State, many alliance nations remain skeptical that NATO’s structures are well-suited for counterterrorism.

Skeptical diplomats say that the intelligence agencies and police forces of individual NATO nations are better-adapted to fighting domestic terrorism threats. Direct intervention on the ground in Syria and Iraq may be most effective if countries offer their militaries on an individual basis rather than in a joint effort through NATO structures, they say.</s>Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday delivered a two-month deadline for NATO states to craft plans for boosting defense spending to agreed levels, but stopped short of spelling out what the consequences will be if allies fall short.

Germany balked at the demand, setting up a potential conflict between Berlin and Washington ahead of a major alliance summit in May.

NATO is under pressure to cough up more cash for defense and to demonstrate more willingness to commit forces to operations as the alliance attempts to adapt to the demands of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has questioned the military pact’s relevance.

“Our goal should be to agree at the May leaders’ meeting that by the end of the year all allies will have either met the pledge guidelines or will have developed plans that clearly articulate how, with annual milestone progress commitments, the pledge will be fulfilled,” Tillerson told NATO ministers.

Echoing previous comments by Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Tillerson said Washington can no longer shoulder a disproportionate share of the security burden in Europe.

“Allies that do not have a concrete plan to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense by 2024 need to establish one now,” Tillerson said. “Allies that have a plan to reach the 2 percent guideline need to accelerate efforts and show results.”

NATO members face intense pressure from the Trump administration to speed up the rate of defense expenditures while also committing more to the fight terrorism emanating from the Middle East and North Africa.

“This is about cash, capabilities and commitments,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at the start of the one-day meeting in Brussels of allied foreign ministers.

Tillerson, who arrived in Brussels Friday, delivered the administration’s demands for more spending during closed-door meetings.

Last week, the ministerial in Brussels was hastily rescheduled to accommodate Tillerson, who had planned to skip discussions with allies in favor of staying in Washington for high-level talks with visiting Chinese leaders in early April. Tillerson’s absence was seen as a possible snub, particularly in light of Trump’s many criticisms of NATO, which he has described as “obsolete.”

The 68-year-old pact scrambled to reschedule the conference, a move Stoltenberg said shows the “commitment of all allies.”

Allies on Friday discussed how to establish national spending plans, which would establish a clear road map for reaching a NATO benchmark that calls for allies to dedicate 2 percent of gross domestic product to the military. Stoltenberg said NATO will examine establishing national plans that spell out how allies will meet 2 percent spending pledges and how to invest funds to ensure capabilities are improved.

While all members are expected to reach that goal by 2024, Trump wants allies to hit the target faster, which is likely to be a source of tension.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the 2 percent mark should be regarded as a “guideline” rather than a requirement.

“We respect the 2 percent guideline, but we should not move the goalposts,” Gabriel said in a statement. “It was formulated in Wales (the 2014 NATO summit) as a guideline and not a goalpost. Defense spending and military means are important to provide for more security, but they are by far not the only means.”

Friday’s meeting is a prelude to NATO’s summit in late May, which Trump will attend and which will probably involve an unveiling by allies of how they intend to meet defense spending obligations.

When it comes to expenditures, Stoltenberg said it is important that allies invest in capabilities NATO needs. Spending was creeping up among most of NATO’s 28 members even before Trump took office. “We need to keep up the momentum and keep the pledge we have all made,” he said.

Currently, just five members — the U.S., Estonia, Britain, Greece and Poland — now meet the 2 percent target. Europe’s economic powerhouse Germany spends about 1.2 percent of GDP on defense. Canada, which has one of the strongest armed forces in the alliance, dedicates just 1.02 percent.

Some members have questioned the 2 percent benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of an alliance military, which has been described as an arbitrary figure. Greece, for instance, dedicates more of its budget to the military than Canada. But Canadian forces are more capable and conduct more high-profile missions, such as leading a multinational battalion in the Baltics.

Tillerson also pressured NATO members to provide more support for counterterrorism operations, such as coalition efforts against the Islamic State group. NATO conducts surveillance operations and training missions in Iraq with its military, focusing on helping troops counter roadside bombs.

NATO is examining sending more mobile special operations forces for training missions as well as an expanded cyber role in countering terrorism, Stoltenberg said.

Tillerson flew into Brussels from Turkey, a NATO member that has been heavily engaged in the fighting against the Islamic State group in neighboring Syria and Iraq. The militants have taken responsibility for a number of terrorist acts in Europe, but until Trump assumed office there was little pressure on NATO to be more active in countering them.

“NATO has untapped potential to do more,” Stoltenberg said.
At a NATO meeting, German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel rejects as "quite unrealistic" the belief that Germany would spend 2% of GDP on the military. He says other spending such as development aid should be taken into account.