US President Donald Trump questioned at this rally in West Virginia why his country is "subsidizing" allied militaries
AFP: US 'subsidizing' Saudi, Asia militaries: Trump
President Donald Trump on Saturday complained that the US is "subsidizing" the military of Middle East ally Saudi Arabia, as well as Japan and South Korea.
The comment, at a West Virginia rally for local candidates of his Republican Party, follows similar jibes at European members of the NATO alliance.
"When you have wealthy countries like Saudi Arabia, like Japan, like South Korea, why are we subsidizing their military?" asked Trump, who pushes an aggressive "America First" policy on trade.
"They'll pay us. The problem is nobody ever asks."
He added that he had spoken to Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Saturday to make the same point.
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Update: Trump: Why are we subsidizing Saudi Arabia's military? (Washington Examiner)
WNU Editor: Saudi Arabia has the third largest defense budget in the world (see here). So no .... the U.S. is not subsidizing Saudi Arabia. But it is true that the U.S. presence in the region is costly, and we are there because protecting Saudi - Gulf state oil supplies is in the long term strategic interest of the United States. As for Japan and South Korea. The case can be made that the U.S. is not being compensated enough for maintaining their forces in these two countries .... but both countries are spending heavily, and they are primarily buying U.S. equipment.
