Remarks by President Trump at Press Conference After NATO Summit | Brussels, Belgium | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Now, what has happened is, presidents over many years, from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama, they came in, they said, "Okay, hey, do the best you can," and they left. Nobody did anything about it. And it got to a point where the United States was paying for 90 percent of NATO. And that's not fair. So it's changed. We had a really good meeting today. We had a great meeting in terms of getting along. I know most of the people in the room because of last year, because of the year and a half that we've been in office - year and a half-plus. But we have a great relationship. Everybody in that room, by the time we left, got along. And they agreed to pay more, and they agreed to pay it more quickly.

    Yeah, go ahead, Phil.

    Q Thanks, Mr. President. Philip Rucker from the Washington Post. You tweeted yesterday, "What good is NATO?" And you've talked about NATO as an alliance that benefits Europe, that defends and protects Europe. Do you see any value of NATO to the United States vis-à-vis Russia? Does it help protect the United States from Russia, in your view?

    THE PRESIDENT: I think it's another very strong ally, as together it's much stronger than, obviously, individual countries. I think it's - the way we have it now, I think it's a much - I think NATO got - you know what was happening with spending prior to my getting into office. The numbers were going down. Now the numbers have gone up like a rocket ship. The numbers have gone up a lot, and they've gone up rapidly. And they're now going up further.

    So I think NATO is going to be very, very effective. I'm very impressed with - and really know, and he's a friend mine - but Secretary General Stoltenberg has done a fantastic job and putting it all together. And we were the ones that really - we gave him an extension of his contract, as you know. I think he's done a really good job.

    I think that when I was saying that I am very concerned with the pipeline, I don't like the pipeline. And when I talk about NATO, I say, how do you have NATO? And then you have somebody paying the people that you're protecting against. But maybe we'll get along with the group that we're protecting against. I think that's a real possibility.

    As you know, I'm meeting with President Putin on Monday. And I think we go into that meeting not looking for so much. We want to find out about Syria. We will, of course, ask your favorite question about meddling. I will be asking that question again. But we'll also be talking about other things. We'll be talking about Ukraine. Ukraine was here today, by the way. And, you know, it was very interesting to hear what they had to say?

    Q (Inaudible.)

    THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me?

    Q What if he denies it?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, he may. I mean, look, he may. You know, what am I going to do? He may deny it. I mean, it's one of those things. All I can do is say, "Did you" and "Don't do it again." But he may deny it. You'll be the first to know. Okay?

    Yes, go ahead.

    Q Mr. President, Robert Wall with the Wall Street Journal.

    THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Hi, Robert.

    Q If the Germans and the Canadians and others don't come up to 2 percent, what is your fallback position? How will you up the pressure to make them actually?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, they will. They will. I have no doubt about it. They all made commitments. And they will be up to 2 percent. It will be over a period - a relatively short period of years. Okay?

    Q Please. Thank you so much.

    THE PRESIDENT: Yes, go ahead.

    Q Georgian TV (inaudible). Mr. President, what do you think today, it needs - (inaudible) Georgia more support from NATO? And I wanted to ask about -

    THE PRESIDENT: Georgia? They were here today, representing.

    Q Yes. And will you talk about Georgia in a meeting with President Putin?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, they were here. They made a very favorable impression. And we listened to their plight. It's a tough situation with Georgia. But they made a very fair verbal impression in the room. Okay?

    Yeah, go ahead. Go. Go. Go ahead.

    Q She's already had one.

    THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, you really did. Come on. Go ahead. Go ahead.

    Q Well, I had a question, as well. But nonetheless, I'll ask, sir. Will you recognize -

    THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.

    Q Will you recognize Russia's annex - will you recognize Crimea as part of Russia when you meet President -

    THE PRESIDENT: Oh, that's an interesting question - because long before I got here, President Obama allowed that to happen. That was on his watch, not on my watch. You know, people like to say, "Oh, Crimea." But the fact is, they built bridges to Crimea. They just opened a big bridge that was started years ago. They built, I think, a submarine port; substantially added billions of dollars. So that was on Barack Obama's watch. That was not on Trump's watch. Would I have allowed it to happen? No, I would not have allowed it to happen. But he did allow it to happen, so that was his determination.

    What will happen with Crimea from this point on? That I can't tell you. But I'm not happy about Crimea. But again, that was on Barack Obama's watch, not Trump's watch.

    Yeah, go ahead. Sure.

    Q It's Jeff Mason from Reuters, Mr. President.

    THE PRESIDENT: Sure. I know, Jeff.

    Q Regarding your summit with President Putin, will you be raising arms control issues?

    THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

    Q Would you like to extend New START? And will you raise concerns about violations of the INF Treaty?

    THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

    Q And as a follow-up to the NATO meeting today, will you suggest to him, or would you consider stopping military exercises in the Baltic States, if that's something that he requests?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, perhaps we'll talk about that. But I will say that we are going to be talking about those three issues and many more. We'll be talking about it, Jeff.

    Go ahead. Go ahead.

    Q (Inaudible.) We are in the NATO, the quarters - the cost (inaudible) the double (inaudible) before. I would like to know if you are planning to guarantee the taxpayers that the new money that is flowing into NATO will be spent in the best possible way, especially the money coming from country that have several problem with the public finances.

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, the money will be spent properly. And one of the things that we have - we have many wealthy countries with us today, but we have some that aren't so wealthy. And they did ask if they could buy the military equipment and could I help them out. And we will help them out a little bit. We're not going to finance it for them, but we'll make sure that they're able to get payments and various other things so they can buy.

    Because the United States makes, by far, the best military equipment in the world. The best jets, the best missiles, the best guns. The best everything - we make, by far. I mean, that's one thing - I guess I assumed it prior to taking office, but I really learned, since being President, our equipment is so much better than anybody else's equipment when you look at our companies - Lockheed and Boeing and Grumman. The material - the equipment that we make is so far superior, everybody wants to buy our equipment. In fact, it's the question, can they make it? Because they are doing very well. Can they make it for so many people?

    So we are helping some of those countries get on line and buy the best equipment.

    Yeah, go ahead.

    Q Hi, I'm Kristin Brown with Fox News. On your upcoming summit with President Putin, did any of your allies here express any specific concerns or talk to you about any messages that they'd like you to take with you when you go to the summit?

    THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Just the opposite of concern. They actually - and they'll probably come out with a little bit of an edict - but they actually thanked me for meeting with President Putin. I look forward to the meeting. They thanked me. They thought it was a great thing that I was doing it. And they gave us our best wishes, or their best wishes.

    Now, with that being said, we'll see that happens. Just a loose meeting. It's not going to be big schedule. I don't think it should take a very long period of time. And we'll see where it leads. But it could lead to productive - something very productive. And maybe it's not.

    But I think meeting with people is great. We had a great meeting with Chairman Kim. And I'll tell you, Mike Pompeo did a fantastic job. I might ask you to say a few words, Mike, while you're here.

    Just one second. Mike, go ahead.

    SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you, Mr. President. So, I did. I returned - I actually came straight from North Korea with a couple of stops here to Brussels. We had a productive conversation. There remains a great deal of work to do, but I think, most importantly, my counterpart, Kim Yong Chol, made a commitment consistent with what President Trump was able to achieve with Chairman Kim, which was: They intend to denuclearize. They're going to accomplish it. And now the task is to get it implemented.

    THE PRESIDENT: I think, just to finish on that, you know, it's so important. That was an amazing - really, an amazing meeting, I though. And I really think that we established a very good relationship. We'll see where it all ends. But there have been no missile tests. There have been no research. Where there has been - they have blown up a site; I hear they're blowing up another site, missile site. They've taken down all of the propaganda. In fact, somebody said there's no more music playing at the border line. You know, the music was going on for many years. They said recently that, "Wow, there's no more of the heavy music and the propaganda." They've done a lot of things. And we got back our three hostages.

    So it's a good process. But the main thing is there have been no rocket launches. There have been no missile tests. There's been no nuclear tests, no explosions, no nothing, for almost nine months.

    Okay. Yeah, please.

    Q Ewen MacAskill from The Guardian. Your trip to the UK, there are lots of protests planned in London and elsewhere. How do you feel about that?

    THE PRESIDENT: I think it's fine. I mean, I think they like me a lot in the UK. I think they agree with me on immigration. I'm very strong on immigration. I made a point today - I said, you've got to stop. You're ruining your - you're going to have a lot of problems. You see what's going on throughout the world with immigration. I probably, at least partially, won an election because of immigration.

    If you look at Italy - Giuseppe, who I got to know quite well over the last month and a half, he won his election because of strong immigration policies on Italy. I think that a lot of the people in the UK - I think that's why Brexit happened. Now, I don't know what's going on with the negotiation. Who knows. But - and I guess that's become a very interesting point of contention. I said I'm going to a few hotspots. We have NATO, then we have the UK, and then we have Putin. And I said, Putin may be the easiest of them all. You never know. But I'm going to a pretty hotspot right now, right, with a lot of resignations.

    But I will say that immigration is a very important thing, and I told them today, the EU - the European Union - better be very careful, because immigration is taking over Europe, and they better be very, very careful. And I said that loud and clear.

    Yes, go ahead.

    Q President Trump, (inaudible) Romania. What will you tell President Putin about this summit and about NATO?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think he's going to see about this summit - this has turned out to be a very successful summit. This is - I think, really, that NATO is more put together right now, is more coordinated. And I think there's a better spirit for NATO right now than perhaps they've ever had. It's richer than it ever was. The commitments are made at a higher level than they've ever been made. And the money, it will be paid out faster - far faster.

    You know, the 2 percent was a range, a goal. It wasn't something that they were committed to. Now it's a commitment. There's a big difference - the 2 percent number. And that's why so many people weren't reaching it or hitting it. It was just sort of like this amorphous number out there. Now it's a commitment, a real commitment.

    I think he's going to see that there's great unity, great spirit, great esprit de corps. And I think we're going to have a good meeting. Regardless of that, I think we're going to have a good meeting.

    But this was a fantastic two days. This was a really fantastic - it all came together at the end. And, yes, it was a little tough for a little while, but ultimately - you can ask anybody at that meeting - they're really liking what happened over the last two days. There's a great, great spirit leaving that room.