US President Trump tweeted on Saturday morning that Germany owed a large debt for the protection of the US.
"Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nevertheless, 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!" he wrote in two Twitter posts sent eight minutes apart.
Trump sent the tweets from his Florida resort, where he is spending the weekend.
Trump praise for Germany
In a joint press conference following a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday Trump declared his support for NATO and vowed to continue the German-American partnership. He praised Berlin's leadership role in Afghanistan and in the Ukraine conflict.
Trump stated that the US would respect 'historic institutions,' but said there needed to be balance and fairness in the relationship to the US.
He thanked Merkel for Germany's commitment to increase its NATO contributions to 2 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) from the current 1.2 percent, but said it was "very unfair to the United States" for European allies to take advantage of US defense spending.
"These nations must pay what they owe," he said Friday.
Merkel said the two leaders had discussed Berlin's contributions to NATO and the continuing German military participation in Afghanistan.
Trump has in the past attacked Merkel for what he describes as her "catastrophic mistake" of letting refugees into the country and "ruining Germany."
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