Singling out germany. I think that these countries have to step tuit up, not over tenyear period but immediately. Germany is a rich country. They talk about increasing it a tiny bit by 2030. They can increase it immediately tomorrow and have no problem. I dont think its fair to the United States. Now if you look at it, germany is a captive of russia because they supply they got rid of their coal plants and nuclear. They are getting so much of the oil and gas from russia. I think its something that nato has to look at. Lets go to our senior White House Correspondent jeff zeleny from brussels. The president has been hammering allies for not meeting that socalled 2 threshold for defense spending. 2 of gdp, gross domestic product. But the president is now even asking them to spend more . Whats the latest . Wolf, he is indeed. President trump asking leaders of nato countries to spend 4 , doubling the goal of 2 of their spending on defense. Of course, thats an unrealistic goal of 4 because as the president has been pointing out indeed, only a handful of countries even meet the projected spending of 2 . This is largely a semantics exercise the president has been engaging in. Essentially blasting all nato countries here. And just a few moments ago he sent out a tweet as well on his way to that dinner with leaders this evening. Lets take a look at that, wolf. He says what good is nato if germany is paying russia billions of dollars for gas and energy. And he goes on to say only 5 of the 29 nato countries are currently paying their 2 . Im struck by the beginning of that tweet. What good is nato. The reality here is the theme of this nato summit is strength in yu unity. The president is up ending the world order that has been in place for the large part since world war ii. By going after germany directly, the president clearly trying to project, perhaps, or misdirect or deflect his own criticism that he indeed is too close to Vladimir Putin. That meeting in helsinki on monday with Vladimir Putin is looming large over this entire nato summit. Wolf, despite the criticism and sharp words, foreign ally germany, the president did sign the joint communique here that is calling out russia for its aggression, for its invasion into ukraine, crimea and for its meddling in elections. So the president did sign that, something he did not do at the g7 just last month. Angela merkel had an interesting response to all of this. She, of course, reminded folks that she grew up in east germany. She said she knows what its like to be captive to then, of course, the soviet union. So an interesting dinner on hand this evening as the president certainly setting the stage for more confrontation as hes done throughout the day here in brussels. A lot of tough talk already. Jeff zeleny in brussels, thank you. Before we go any further, i want to fact check these claims from the president that the u. S. Basically supports nato and the accusation that germany is beholden to russia. Our chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto is with us. Lets start with the president demanding that other countries pay what he says would be their fair share and they pay it immediately. Is the u. S. Being treated unfairly . Well, this battle within nato is not new. Successive u. S. President s have pushed european allies to pay more, to contribute more. And there is some basis to that argument. Ill give you an example. This is the number of military transport aircraft. Thats a key of getting forces into place to fight wars, to counter threats. The u. S. Has more than 5,000, 5,200 transport aircraft. All the other nato members combined have a little more than half that together. And its this imbalance that successive u. S. President s have tried to address. Now if you look at the u. S. Military budget, it pays 3. 5 , a little more than that, of its budget. Thats something of an unfair comparison because the u. S. Has many military commitments far beyond nato, but when you look at that 2 goal, only a handful of countries meet that. Greece, their budget is so small after the football criinancial. The uk does. Estonia. Poland. Again, close to that Eastern Frontier of nato. It does. But the other big u. S. Allies in nato, they do not. France is close. Canada, germany, as the president likes to single out, is not. To be clear, that 2 goal, its not a legal requirement. Its not aye treaty requirement. It was a goal established at the 2014 nato summit to be met by 2024, which is still, of course, six years away. They made that goal before they knew a President Donald Trump was going to be elected and make this such a political issue for him. Hes moving up that, not deadline, but goal line year demanding that those nato members meet that target. Today you might say hes up ended it by doubling the target. Clearly not a serious request but the president has made it. Its got to be 4 , which, clearly is not going to happen. What about the claims from the president that germany is, what he calls a captive of russia. What is he referring to . Germany and a whole bunch of European Countries depend on russia for natural gas. Germany in its case gets about onethird of natural gas from russia. Another third from norway. Another third from the netherlands. If you look at the rest of europe, its not that far out of whack. Russia produces a lot of natural gas. The whole European Union, a little more than onethirtd. Norway and some from across the mediterranean in algeria. Big driving factor here is cost. These countries, after russia invaded ukraine, they said well buy less russian gas. We want to be less dependent. The price of russian gas has gone down. Theyve been buying more of it. And a lot of that is an economic factor. I will say this. U. S. Natural gas producers, they are desperate to sell u. S. Natural gas to europe. Theyd love to. The trouble is theres no pipeline from here to there. You have to liquefy it, take it across in big ships. That costs a lot of money. They cant compete with the cheap gas coming from russia. Thank you, jim sciutto. The german chancellor Angela Merkel diplomatically pushed back on President Trumps disparaging remarks about nato, reminding him of how the u. S. Benefits from the alliance. Translator germany has to thank nato for a lot. For german reunification and for the reunification of europe. That has a lot to do with nato. But germany does a lot for nato. Were the second largest donor of troops. We put most of our military abilities into the service of nato, and we are strongly committed in afghanistan where we also defend the interest of the United States of america. Lets go to our chief International AnchorChristiane Amanpour. The president has continually criticized nato allies for not paying what he calls would be their fair share. So why are his remarks today surprising . Hes been saying very similar things not just for a few years but for the past few decades. Well, look, thats right. He has been saying that. It doesnt make it any less surprising when he says as president of the United States into the face of his allies there. Its more to be honest with you the remarks he made about Angela Merkel and germany itself which was the other thing. The apples and oranges. Weve got apples, which is the nato budget, and oranges, which is the pipeline. Calling germany a captive and controlled by russia. It is completely unprecedented language. Its the most undiplomatic language to talk to an ally. Angela america whole grew up in sovietdominated east europe, captive of the soviet union, of russia . And this pipeline, according to the Russian Foreign ministry, has nothing to do with the government. Its a commercial enterprise. And this is what the German Defense minister told me about. This pipeline started some 15 years ago, way before there were any nato targets, as there are right now. Listen to what she told me. First of all, this is a pipeline. This economic project started, i think, back in 2002 or 03. So way before russia changed its behavior in 2014. We have a very diverse mix of Energy Supply so the president hasnt to be worried that theres any kind of dependency. On the contrary, if there is one person who has been dealing all the time with president putin very hard on the issues of ukraine and the hybrid war in the ukraine, it was chancellor merkel. So there shes addressing both issues. Chancellor merkel has been the european leader who stood up very, very firmly to Vladimir Putin and all of this nondependency on russian natural gas. Germans apparently take about 35 or so of their natural gas from russia. And we understand from what you heard jim sciutto and our own John Defterios of cnn money have said its mostly about, the president s complaints over this natural gas is mainly about a business concern. The United States would rather have that business action. The u. S. Wants to be a big exporter of natural gas and theyve had talks about this pipeline in the past and clearly wants to supplant as youve just heard some of that. But all of this is incredibly acrimonious at a nato summit where expectations amongst the leaders there have been very low given what happened in canada at the g7, wolf. Good point. Christiane, how is the russian president Vladimir Putin, who is going to be meet with President Trump in helsinki on monday, how is he reacting to whats going on now . Its hard to know how hes reacting, but we know that this is, as i put it to the American Ambassador to nato, was this music to putins ears . This idea that President Trump is sort of the disruptor driving a wedge, what is perceived to be driving a wedge through the western order and western alliance which is something Vladimir Putin himself wants to do and its happening, you know, thanks to the president of the United States. So i put that to her yesterday and this is what she told me. I think the discord is music to putins ears, but i do think that coming from this summit, which is allied, is strong and is going to increase our deterrent capabilities, that is going to, i think, put President Trump in a very strong position with president putin. And i think he will be tough with president putin. So, wolf, to thread a very difficult needle there. Shes admitting that this sort of discord is not helpful when it comes to a united front against Vladimir Putin and his actions. And, remember, this whole nato reengineering of their budgets was because of invading eastern ukraine. She diplomatically tries to say all this bluster by President Trump is a strategy with which to go into the meeting with putin for a position of strength. Christiane amanpour, thank you very much. Were showing live pictures from brussels. The president and other members of the delegation are going to be arriving for this big dinner tonight. Well have live coverage of the photo opportunity. There you see the president and the first lady walking over. Lets just listen in for a moment here if they say anything. Well, clearly, we cant hear the small talk thats going on right now. Theyre walking in to this dinner. Well have live pictures coming from there momentarily. But josh rogan, the headlines so far, 2 , not enough. There was a commitment that the nato allies made in 2014 over the next decade, until 2024, theyd reach that 2 of gdp goal for defense spending. Now the president today all of a sudden says thats not enough. Its got to be 4 . What President Trump is doing is setting unreasonable demands unilaterally and then insulting our allies when they push back against those demands. Its profoundly counterproductive. It has no chance of actually working. But what it does do is advance the president s seeming goal which is to further deepen the crisis between u. S. And our european allies at this crucial time. And that problem is a continuation of the ongoing u. S. Crisis with our relationships with europe that President Trump has been intentionally public and privately feeding for months. This has our european allies totally flummoxed and in panic and you talk to any of them, theyll tell you the same thing. They dont understand why the president of the United States is insulting them, setting unreasonable demands and going out of his way to set bad optics at a summit of which the only point was to show unity of the alliance which is now impossible. Its really a worse Case Scenario for them and a worse Case Scenario for the United StatesNational Security as well. Usually these nato summits are very nice and talk about substance. This is an extraordinary moment with the president of the United States showing up, even in advance, hes criticizing the nato allies and specifically today germany. Its quite extraordinary. And i think josh is right. There is a great nervousness in europe. Not just about issues of how much money they are putting into their Defense Budgets but really about the core challenges when it comes to the security interests of the west. Whether its the ukraine and russias aggression. Its an annexation of crimea. What do you do next on syria as the war seems to be winding down and the russians seem to have won. What do you do next . What do we do next with the Iran Nuclear Deal . The United States has pulled a rug out from underneath that. Theres a huge split in what is the most important military alliance not just in the world but in history. And the sense that President Trump has spent most of his time challenging the people who are allies. Not putting on the table or for public discussion these Critical Issues that will determine the security of all these nations. Max, they are trying to be diplomatic and nice about the words theyre hearing from the president of the United States, the nato allies. I can only imagine whats going through their minds right now. I suspect the thought bubble over all the european leaders heads is why does he hate us . What have we ever done to this guy . Why does he have it out for us . Trump has various excuses for why hes attacking the europeans. He complains, for example, about the nord stream 2 pipeline which is a legitimate issue but hes not doing it in a constructive way to talk about how do we change the Energy Delivery to europe. Hes doing it as a way to bash germany, just as he does with complaints about the Defense Budget and their spending which gives the impression the europeans arent spending anything on defense, which they are. About 250 billion in spending. About 2 million troops under arms. The United States has about 60,000 troops in european. So its not as if the cases that were doing all the defense and theyre not defending themselves at all. He never acknowledges the contributions they make in places like afghanistan, iraq and syria. He seems to be using these issues as an exdeuce destabilize the alliance and i think a lot of europeans are concerned he wants to kill the alliance. So i think they are greeting him with great concern, as he is stomping across the continent. April ryan, you see more and more World Leaders arriving for this traditional state dinner theyre about to have in brussels over at nato headquarters. Theyre serve something champagne it looks like. I suspect some of those World Leaders would like something a little stiffer right now. Something to take the edge off. Its amazing watching the World Leaders come in in their vehicles and still the power and strength to see the beast, the vehicle that the president of the United States comes in. Its still larger. Its still more, i guess, more forceful in its look. But in the midst of all of that, as we show a stance of strength, theres a word called division. And that division is punctuated by what hes saying about Angela Merkel. This is president erdogan of turkey. Turkey is a member of nato, although theres a lot of controversy there. And division is punctuated by whats being said. Angela merkel, one of the veterans of nato right now, going against her and trying to basically throw her under the bus when it comes to russia as he is under a cloud with russia and getting ready to meet with putin. And also with what Christiane Amanpour said about President Trump being a disruptor. European leaders have long said this president is a disruptor. I remember a couple months ago at the eu headquarters, eu the European Union headquarters when we had dinner with the European Union ambassador. And he basically said they do not know where President Trump is coming from. He is a disruptor. And this just further puts a punctuation mark on whats happening in the last two days. Theres no reason for this division right now when the world needs to come together at a tim