Monday, December 16, 2019

NATO Expenses


The cost of maintaining NATO is $1 trillion each year.
The US currently funds 70% of NATO expenses to protect Europe from Russia. The US has been defending European countries from each other since 1917.

NATO membership requires that member countries pay 2% of their GDP to fund their common defense.

The total budget for NATO is about $1 trillion per year. NATO countries who are paying 2% of GDP or more include:
US 3.42%GDP
Greece 2.24%GDP
UK 2.13%GDP
Estonia 2.13%GDP
Romania 2.04%GDP
Poland 2.01%GDP
Latvia 2.01%GDP
Lithuania 1.98%GDP

The US pays 70% of NATO expenses. Trump is calling on NATO countries to pay 2% of GDP. Only 7 of these 26 countries are paying their 2%. Most of these countries increased their payments in 2019.

NATO Expenses have remained stable, but most of their expenses are equipment upgrades. 
Year – US - Europe -Total
2019 $685B $302B $987B
2018 $642B $289B $931B
2017 $626B $277B $903B
2016 $651B $262B $913B
2015 $641B $254B $896B
2014 $696B $252B $949B

Defense Expenditures by Country 2019
Table 2: Graph 3:
US $730.15B 3.42%GDP
UK $60.76B 2.13%GDP
Germany $54.75B
France $50.73B
Italy $24.48B
Canada $22.49B
Turkey $13.92B
Spain $13.16B
Netherlands $12.48B
Poland $11.90B 2.01%
Norway $7.71B
Romania $5.05B 2.04%GDP
Czech Republic $2.97B
Greece $4.94B 2.24%GDP
Belgium $4.92B
Denmark $4.65B
Portugal $3.61B
Bulgaria $2.18B
Hungary $2.08B
Slovak Republic $1.91B
Lithuania $1.11B 1.98%GDP
Croatia $1.03B
Latvia $724M 2.01%GDP
Estonia $670M 2.13%GDP
Luxembourg $395M
Albania $198M
Montenegro $92M


Comments

The US Federal Budget Deficit for 2020 is $1 trillion. If the US lowered its NATO dues to 2%, it could reduce expenses to $430 billion and eliminate $300 billion from the deficit.

If the European countries in NATO could get Russia to be less threatening, NATO could significantly reduce its NATO expenses.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

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