U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to break with NATO and conduct American security unilaterally - if allies do not immediately meet higher military spending targets, NATO officials and diplomats said.
Trump warned of "grave consequences" if allies do not immediately meet higher spending targets, Politico writes. One NATO official said Trump wants a plan from alliance members by January on how to reach the spending target.
Later at a press conference, Trump did not respond to a question about whether he had threatened to pull the U.S. out of NATO. Instead, he answered another part of the question, which asked if he could pull out without congressional approval. He said: "I think I can."
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed that Trump suggested that countries not only meet their commitment of 2% of their GDP on defense spending, but that they increase it to 4%.
