Trump with stiff tones: Germany taken hostage from Russia

Speaking in the morning, as he met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Trump said: “We are protecting Germany. We're protecting France. We're protecting everyone. This is unfair to our country. It's unfair to our taxpayers”, Trump said.

Trump has said Germany is the “fully controlled by Russia” due to natural gas dependence and the gas pipeline agreement with Moscow.

The summit is expected to be one of the alliance's most difficult meetings in several years, as Trump continues to pressure Allies to step up defence spending.

Trump has repeatedly criticised coalition members for their spending levels even before the start of the meeting. The summit gathers more than 40 leaders of governments, including 29 allies and partners who are not NATO members, from Finland to Afghanistan. Founded in 1949 to combat the Soviet threat, NATO is based on deep co-operation with the US, which creates security for Europe through its nuclear arsenal. But the alliance has created new missions from Russia's decision to annex Crime in 2014, sending battalions to Baltic and Poland to fight an unexpected Russian attack.

Recalling the meeting of the seven most industrialized states in June, where Trump had rejected the summit's final declaration, NATO's envoys, have left nothing at all, negotiating the Brussels summit declaration exactly days before and showing determination in policies on Russia and Iraq.

Trump's position is still unclear. “It can abolish everything with a Twitter post”, a diplomat of the NATO.