Trump asks NATO members to 'reimburse' US for defense costs

United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday stated that the countries that have not fully contributed to fund North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) should 'reimburse' Washington.

"Many countries in NATO, which we are expected to defend, are not only short of their current commitment of 2% (which is low), but are also delinquent for many years in payments that have not been made. Will they reimburse the U.S.?" he tweeted.

President Trump's tweet comes ahead of the NATO summit in Brussels which he is scheduled to attend on July 11 and 12, before flying to Helsinki for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16.

Last week, the US President wrote to several allies including Norway, Germany, Belgium, and Canada to increase its defense expenditure as NATO partners while threatening to reduce the US military's presence in Europe.

In the 2014 summit in Wales, NATO members had pledged to commit two percent of their Gross Domestic Product for defence, with Trump repeatedly having deplored their failure to do so.