Germany’s Chancellor Front-Runner Downplays Trump NATO Demand

Friedrich Merz, the German conservative who is the front-runner to become the next chancellor, downplayed a remark by US President-elect Donald Trump calling for NATO members to more than double defense spending.

The head of the Christian Democratic Union described Trump’s demand that alliance partners spend 5% of GDP on defense as “a spontaneous comment,” Merz said on Wednesday at a press conference following a meeting with his party’s Bavarian partner. He said that the current goal for spending 2% of GDP on defense was a “minimum.”