Article snippet: Strains in the U.S.-European relationship are peaking just as MORE prepares to face allies at this month’s critical NATO summit. Trump has repeatedly complained that members aren’t meeting the alliance’s defense spending goal. But the meeting comes at a difficult time, with the broader U.S.-European relationship already under stress from Trump’s tariffs, his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and his overtures to improve relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We’ll have a repeat of the G-7 with Trump going to the summit and likely complaining once again about allies not spending enough money on defense," said James Goldgeier, a professor of international relations at American University. "And doing it in a public way designed to basically heighten the notion that he seems to have that NATO is just another bad deal for the U.S.” Since his presidential campaign, Trump has railed against NATO allies for what he sees as an unfair reliance on the United States to foot the bill for their defense. Just eight of NATO's 29 members currently meet or are expected this year to meet the alliance’s goal of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense: the United States, United Kingdom, Greece, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Romania and Lithuania. That goal was set at the 2014 Wales summit, where allies agreed to meet the target by 2024. NATO’s secretary-general has said at least 15 allies will make the 2024 deadline. Trump, though, wants allies to sp... Link to the full article to read more