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At a July 2018 NATO summit in Brussels, Trump boasted of singlehandedly winning commitments from his fellow NATO leaders to meet and exceed spending targets of two per cent of GDP — even though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke only of continuing with Canada’s existing military plan.

Wealthy, wealthy countries that we’re protecting are all under notice

“Well, they will,” Trump responded when asked how he would increase pressure on Canada, Germany and Italy if any of the three failed to meet the target. “I have no doubt about it. They all made commitments and they will be up to two per cent. It will be over a relatively short period of years.”

At that summit Trudeau was pressed to provide more details about the U.S. president’s sudden insistence that allies had agreed to spend more — and to do it more quickly.

Trudeau said he did agree to uphold Canada’s commitment to the 2014 Wales NATO summit pledge on defence investment, but said the declaration technically states NATO allies would merely “aim to move towards” the two per cent guideline within a decade.

Photo by Marlene Awaad/Bloomberg

Now, the new figures reveal just how far off Trump’s bravado was, and he has responded by once more calling out the U.S.’s allies.

“Wealthy, wealthy countries that we’re protecting are all under notice,” Trump said in a speech at the Pentagon on Jan. 17. “We cannot be the fools for others.”

Meanwhile the alliance itself sought to put a positive spin on the numbers, with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg pointing out that spending cuts of previous years have now been reversed.