Trump criticizes NATO allies ahead of summit

President Trump renewed his criticism of NATO allies ahead of his Tuesday departure for a summit that starts Wednesday in Brussels, accusing them of failing to contribute enough to the alliance while Europe maintains a trade surplus with the U.S. "The United States is spending far more on NATO than any other Country," Trump tweeted Monday. "This is not fair, nor is it acceptable... they must do much more." On Tuesday, he elaborated:

Madeleine Albright and 15 other former foreign ministers from around the world sent Trump a letter saying he could "take some credit" for getting other NATO members to increase defense spending, Politico reported. They urged him to bolster America's "deteriorating relationship" with its Western allies, and to avoid cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin when they meet in Helsinki after the NATO gathering.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.