Trump claims victory in NATO spending dispute

Donald Trump said NATO leaders agreed today to a big boost in defence spending after crisis talks in Brussels, but France's Emmanuel Macron appeared to contradict the US president.

Trump claimed victory after bitterly criticising key allies, notably Germany, for failing to pay their way at one of the most fractious summits in NATO's 70-year history.

He triggered an emergency session on the spending issue, before emerging from the turmoil to say "I believe in NATO" in response to reports that he had threatened to pull out.

"Tremendous progress has been made, everyone's agreed to substantially up their commitment, they're going to up it at levels they've never thought of before," Trump told a press conference before leaving for a visit to Britain.

"It's been amazing to see the level of spirit in that room."
In an apparent swipe at Trump, he added: "Sometimes the corridors, comments and tweets take on more importance than what is negotiated, said or endorsed by heads of state."
"We understand this US president is very serious about defence spending and this is having an impact," Stoltenberg said. "Since President Trump was in Brussels last spring allies have added 41 billion extra for defence spending."