At NATO, Trump Lashes Germany Over Nord Stream Pipeline, Russia

President Donald Trump accused Germany of being a “captive” of Russia on July 11 as Western leaders gathered in Brussels for a NATO summit where Trump wants Europeans to pay more for their own defense.

In a startling public outburst against one of Europe’s main military powers, Trump told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that Germany was wrong to support a new $11-billion Baltic Sea pipeline, Nord Stream 2, to import Russian gas while being slow to meet targets for NATO spending to protect against Russia.

“We’re supposed to be guarding against Russia and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia,” Trump said in the presence of reporters at a pre-summit meeting at the residence of the U.S. ambassador to Belgium.