Donald Trump, in an unlikely role for the president of NATO’s founding member, has long questioned the usefulness of the alliance (Tatyana ZENKOVICH)

Washington (AFP) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visits the White House on Tuesday to meet the Western military alliance’s biggest partner and now critic — US President Donald Trump.

The White House visit comes before two days of talks in Washington among the 29 foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, with the specter of Russia again topping the agenda.

The occasion is meant to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the alliance, which since the end of World War II has cemented Europe and the United States in a partnership fusing military strength with shared democratic values.

But even as NATO’s once implacable foe Moscow is again rising up the agenda, the alliance is struggling with an unexpected new source of turmoil: Trump’s heated criticism of an organization he claims is taking the United States for a ride.

Trump, in an unlikely role for the president of NATO’s founding member, has long questioned the usefulness of the alliance and characterized fellow members as freeloaders relying on the US defensive umbrella and giving little in return.

He has derisively questioned why NATO would defend tiny Montenegro and has been incensed that Germany, Europe’s largest economy, is not on track to meet a NATO target for each country to spend 2.0 percent of GDP on defense.

Stoltenberg, speaking to reporters before leaving NATO’s home base of Brussels, agreed that Germany should live up to commitments from a NATO summit in 2014.

“I expect Germany to make good on the pledge Germany made together with all other NATO allies,” said Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway.

“I expect them to meet spending commitments, and they have submitted to NATO a national plan where they outline how Germany will increase defense spending in real terms by 80 percent over a decade.”

NATO foreign ministers will discuss the “importance of fair burden-sharing” during a working lunch on Thursday, a State Department official said.

“We anticipate there will be by the end of the 2020 more than $100 billion in additional new spending from our allies on defense, but of course there is also more work to be done and, as the secretary general said in Brussels, there needs to be a new sense of urgency on this,” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

– Further steps on Ukraine –

If spending questions are dividing NATO, most alliance members share concerns about Russia which backs separatists in a low-intensity war in Ukraine from which it seized the Crimean peninsula in 2014.

“We will be looking at ways to do more in the whole Black Sea region. We will be doing more surveillance, there will be more ships in the Black Sea from NATO countries, and there are sanctions that have already been imposed” over actions against Ukraine, Hutchison said.

Stoltenberg said the foreign ministers will likely agree to step up support to Ukraine as well as Georgia, including through training maritime forces and coast guards and further port visits and exercises.

He said NATO will also discuss further steps after the collapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, with the United States and its allies saying that a Russian missile system has negated the key Cold War pact.

Stoltenberg will address a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday.

But the anniversary will be comparatively low-key, with NATO waiting until December to hold a full leaders-level summit in London.

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.