Trump hails $10bn Qatari pledge for US airbase, travels to the UAE

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday Qatar will invest $10 billion in coming years in the Al Udeid Air Base southwest of its capital Doha, the largest US military facility in the Middle East.

- Reuters

Germany, on Thursday, backed US President Donald Trump's demand to more than double Nato's defence spending target to 5% of GDP, as Washington urged countries to eliminate "weak links" in the alliance caused by a lack of military investment.

"We are following him (Trump), and we see this as a clear commitment by the US to Nato's Article 5," Germany's new foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said, referring to the military alliance's mutual defence pact.

Wadephul, who took office earlier last week as part of a new conservative-led government, was speaking at a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in the Turkish city of Antalya, where defence spending was high on the agenda.

Nato's current defence spending target is 2% of GDP - a goal currently met or exceeded by 22 of its 32 members.

But many Nato leaders say that target is now too low, as they see Russia as a much greater threat following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

With six weeks to go before Nato leaders hold a summit at The Hague, member countries are striving to satisfy Trump's demands, aiming to prevent a recurrence of past threats by the president to withdraw from the alliance or weaken the US commitment to collective defence.