brussels<u+2014>the head of the north atlantic treaty organization rebutted claims by republican presidential nominee donald trump that the alliance has increased spending in response to his critique. jens stoltenberg, the nato secretary-general, also said the alliance will defend all allies, a response to mr. trump<u+2019>s earlier suggests that the u.s. would examine how much allies spend on defense before coming to their aid. <u+201c>we don<u+2019>t say: if you don<u+2019>t pay, we won<u+2019>t protect you,<u+201d> mr. stoltenberg said. mr. stoltenberg took pains to say he wasn<u+2019>t wading into the u.s. presidential election. but tuesday<u+2019>s comments were the third time he has weighed in after comments by mr. trump. nato officials said they were disturbed by comments mr. trump made in the third presidential debate. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re protecting people,<u+201d> mr. trump said in the debate. <u+201c>they have to pay up. and i<u+2019>m a big fan of nato, but they have to pay up.<u+201d> mr. trump also said nato spending has risen as a result of his criticism of the alliance, a point also disputed by mr. stoltenberg. he said prodding european countries has been on top of his agenda and that of the alliance. <u+201c>after years of decline in defense spending there is now an increase in defense spending among european allies,<u+201d> mr. stoltenberg said. <u+201c>but this is not something that was caused by the u.s. election campaign. mr. stoltenberg has previously taken on mr. trump, though never by name, for claiming credit for the new alliance intelligence division and for other criticism of the alliance<u+2019>s focus. mr. trump has said nato needs to focus more on countering terrorism and that european allies spend far too little on defense. write to julian e. barnes at julian.barnes@wsj.com
nato head rebuts trump claims on spending  - wsj
julian e. barnes