Trudeau, Merkel differ on answering Trump call for more NATO defence spending

The pro-trade show of solidarity that Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are likely to make in Berlin later today will mask differences in how to deal with Donald Trump’s call for NATO members to boost military spending. Trump has called the 28-country alliance obsolete and Defence Secretary James Mattis told his fellow defence ministers in Brussels this week that while the U.S. still holds NATO in high regard, it expects its allies to start spending more on defence or the Trump administration will “moderate its commitment.”