The U.S. needs its European allies to pull their own weight in defense.
Like most NATO member states, Germany does not keep its alliance pledge to put 2 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) toward defense spending, and Berlin does not intend to change that any time soon. Within the next few years, it will raise defense spending to 1.3 or at most 1.5 percent of GDP, up from 2017’s 1.13 percent. The full 2 percent, however, is not on the agenda.
Absent NATO membership, this spending decision would be Germany’s business alone. If 2 percent of GDP is more than Germans want or need to spend on their military to achieve their security goals, then good luck and let them have it. But as a NATO member, Germany’s failure to keep its promise has broader consequences, particularly for the alliance’s credibility and U.S. foreign policy.
Because other NATO states — particularly large, wealthy allies such as Germany — do not meet the obligations of the alliance, NATO has shifted from a mutual-defense pact to an American subsidy of European security. While American taxpayers devote nearly $2,000 per capita to military spending each year — double the 2 percent of GDP benchmark — European NATO members average less than $500 in per capita defense spending, instead directing resources to domestic programs, including Europe’s substantial social-welfare state.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/05/germany-defense-spending-below-nato-goals-allies-must-pull-their-weight/
