Stoltenberg said in his memoirs that Trump wanted to exclude 4 countries from NATO

Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has published his new book of memoirs, where, in particular, he says that US President Donald Trump, during his first term, considered the possibility of excluding Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway from the alliance because, in his opinion, they spent too little on defense. The former NATO secretary General also noted that he had received advice on how to behave in order "not to annoy Trump."

In the book "On my Watch: NATO Leadership in Wartime," Stoltenberg described the period from 2014 to 2024, when he led NATO structures. He paid special attention to the alliance's difficult relations with Trump during his first term in the White House (2017-2021). According to the Norwegian politician, currently serving as Minister of Finance of Norway, the US president has repeatedly threatened his country's allies with abandoning them. The main source of Trump's anger was the low level of defense spending of European NATO countries.

"Trump accused the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron of "non-payment of US debts" and that their countries' defense budgets do not even account for 10% of the alliance's total budget. In 2018, the defense spending of Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway did not even exceed 1.5% of their GDP, so Trump even considered the possibility of excluding these countries from NATO structures," Stoltenberg writes.

As Stoltenberg further explains, the then US Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, repeatedly apologized to him for the behavior and words of his boss. He even gave the Norwegian advice on how not to annoy Trump.

"We are ashamed of him. We just need to try to calm him down. And don't argue with the president, especially about the numbers he calls. It won't help anything," the Pentagon chief allegedly advised.