Frustrated by the failure of America’s Nato allies to spend more on defence, President Trump turned to President Erdogan, offering the Turkish strongman a friendly fist-bump.

After expressing irritation at European leaders who insisted that any increase in defence allocation must be approved through a legal process, Mr Trump faced the Turkish president at last week’s Nato summit in Brussels and said: “Except for Erdogan over here. He is doing things the right way.” The touching of fists was captured by CBS news.

Only three of Nato’s 29 members have achieved the 2 per cent of GDP defence spending target that all agreed to in 2006. Turkey, which spent 1.68 per cent of GDP on defence last year, is not one of them.

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