>> secretary of state mike pompeo was in brussels in a meeting at nato headquarters. while there, he held a news conference to talk about the historic meeting between north and south korea and the future of the iran nuclear agreement. this is about15 minutes. of the iran nuclear agreement. this is about 15 and its. -- 15 minutes. secretary pompeo: good afternoon, everyone. it's truly been an honor to be here in brussels today. i received a very warm welcome from my counterparts. it's never good to be late on your first day of work, and so after being sworn in i hustled here. the flight crew did great work to get me here and lots of great state department officers helped me get this set up so i could be here in the nick of time. it was important to me. there's no more fitting destination for my first foreign trip as the secretary of state than a meeting of our nato allies. this alliance has been an essential pillar of american security interests for decades. some of our strongest bilateral partnerships are encompassed within this alliance, and i made it clear today tha

i was ambassador to nato. we never made a commitment that we would not expand nato into eastern europe. we made a commitment that we would not station nuclear weapons on the territory of the former warsaw pact states. and we have kept that commitment. - [brzezinski] to say that we should freeze nato enlargement, would be another way to reward putin. to legitimize his polices. your basic meaning there would be a line of division. you will have countries who are not allowed to pursue their national interests because of russian dominion. - we urge russia to cease its destabilizing activities in ukraine and elsewhere. - [narrator] using sanctions on russia, some argue, would further integrate russia into the global economy. - our european friends understand that the more that we actually do economic business with russia that the more likely we are to have peaceful interactions that will make things better rather than make things worse. and they will not see that as a sign of weakness. - i think it's nonsense. hone

ministers today discussed aspiration, ukrainian aspiration to join nato. can you please give us a flavor of this discussion. did you actually discuss a request of president poroshenko to provide ukraine membership action plan? and what is your opinion on this issue? thank you. secretary pompeo: so there was discussion today about ukraine, ukraine's potential entry to be a nato partner, that there's much work to do along the way to achieve that. i think that i'm always careful to describe consensus when there were lots of differing voices about how to approach it and what the right action set ought to be to achieve it, but i think there was a large group who are hopeful that the ukrainians will begin to take the actions that would put them in a place where they could, in fact, be an aspirant to become a nato member. ms. nauert: everyone, thank you. thank you so much. secretary pompeo: okay, thank you, all. ms. nauert: mr. secretary, thank you. we've had an awfully long day, as you can imagine. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1970 nine, c-span was

and going ahead with a better nato. a more efficient nato. pres. trump: has donald trump made a difference on nato? a risky question. [laughter] pres. trump: if she says he same thing she said in the oval office -- >> i can repeat -- all members of nato, pressure to all political elite, the things that somebody else needs to protect. at first you do homework and then ask for your partner. to come with you. that is what you did. this kind of leadership is good and we are using it. we are using it to influence the opinions in our countries, we need to first investing ourselves. and then the partners. they can't come with us. that's they can come with us. -- they can come with us. pres. trump: nato has taken in billions of dollars more because of me. you are delinquent, too many countries, many countries were not paying. germany now is paying 1% and not even paying the full 1%. germany hooks up a pipeline into pay forr germany will energy into russia. paying vastmany is amounts of money to russia when they hook up a pipeline? that is not right. german

nato. nato was delinquent. they were not paying their bills. they were not paying a lot of states, as we discussed. they were not paying what they should be paying. in, many, many billions of dollars additional have been paid by countries that were not paying. now they are paying. they will have to pay more, frankly. they will have to pay more. there are many things that i have done, not only the 60 diplomats, the -- germany did four, france did 60. has been no one who tougher on russia. with that being said, i think i could have a very good relationship with president putin. i think. it is possible i want. this room will know about it before i know about it. it is a real possibility that i could have a good relationship. remember this. getting along with russia is a good thing. getting along with the china is a good thing. getting along with other countries, including your three countries, is a good thing, not a bad thing. so i think i could have a very good relationship with russia. and with president putin. if i did, that would be a great th

he was talking about nato. he has been a frequent critic, if you will, of the north atlantic treaty organization. this is what he said in just the last hour. take a listen. >> nato has taken in billions of dollars more because of me, because i said you're delinquent, you're not paying. germany pays 1%. the united states is paying close to 4%. the united states, as you said, is paying 80% of the cost of nato. do you think that's fair? >> fact check, steve clemens, is that true? >> fact checker, 80%? it reminds me of those maps, with all due respect to my friends in new york, of new york city being the center of the world and everything else being a lot smaller. the united states contributes about 22% of nato's budget. germany, which donald trump bashed quite a bit during that meeting, contributes about 15% of nato's budget. and that leads about 63% of the rest of nato's expenses that are covered by all the other countries. so president trump needs to get a primer on this. he's just completely wrong on the facts.

i didn't care until they needed ukraine in nato. they want to go to the european union i said great, go to europe but why did they need them in nato. these are not the words of an ideologue. these are the words of a riskless pragmatist. not uniquely ruthless. gorbachev supported the annexation of crimea. so what did cannon have to say about this, very wise again in 1998 age 94, we have signed up to protect a whole series of countries even though we have neither the resources or intention to do so in any serious way. coming back to the marshall plan to wrap up, i believe the historical lesson is this. we remember the marshall plan today because it was visionary and it stirred people's imagination, but it was also hardheaded and it succeeded because it was hardheaded. if we had defined success to include, for example, bringing czechoslovakian and poland and the marshall plan, we would have failed. why, because we would've had to go to war with the soviet union to do that. the american public would never have supported it and therefore

nato was still in quinn. -- was delinquent. since i came in, billions of dollars have been paid by countries that were not paying. they are going to have to pay more. there are many things i have done, not only the 60 diplomats. didany did four, france six. with that being said, i think i could have a good relationship with president putin. it is possible i won't. believe me, this room will know about it before i know. a possibility i could have a good relationship and remember , getting along with russia is a good thing. getting along with china is a good thing. getting along with other countries is a good thing, not a bad thing. i think i could have a good relationship with russia and with president putin and if i did, that would be great and there is a great possibility that will not happen. who knows? thank you. , i would like to contribute to your first question. trust the judgment of the united states administration even while we were occupied. we could trust your judgment when we regained independence. we could because w

there is no nato bill that comes due on the first of the month. but if its member nation defense spending that he's really talking about, which it seems he is, there's a nato guideline on that. the baltics sharply increased theirs. they did it to counter what they perceived as the russian threat. and for accuracy's sake, they started before president trump was elected. speaking of russia, the president once again insisted that nobody has been tougher on that country than him. nobody. ever. watch. >> nobody's been tougher to russia than donald trump. we have been very tough on russia, frankly. nobody has been tougher on russia. nobody's been tougher on russia than i have. there's nobody been tougher on russia. >> once again, keeping them honest, this president would be correct in perhaps saying that no president has been tougher on russia in the last several weeks. he has, after all, joined nato and other countries in expelling russian personnel after the poisoning of two russian nationals, a british police officer, and more than a dozen others in

like turkey's nato allies could this be about that. well some of the allies are upset. nato has said turkey has the right to purchase whatever defense system it likes it may not be can go back to will with the data systems but let me remind you greece also deployed s three hundred.

nato has grown germany's for. sponsibility doesn't stop at its national borders anymore defending the country has reached completely new dimensions. this is his classic slam this is for this is defending your country and your allies as a boy i grew up in northern the varia and i remember american tanks on the czech border when for that i lived in a village five hundred meters away and it's all the talk then it was just about national defense that's lines for tyrone gets in recent years we've got to understand that defending the country is more about defending the alliance and the frontline state is a different country now in as it were there for the whole alliance that was always the case of course but it was forgotten this is focused on. processes logistics maneuvers they all have to work all over the world and often in parallel the bundeswehr doesn't have much time to adapt to the requirements for years it had budget restraints for personnel and military hardware but more and more foreign missions were added now

, different quality of nato. and i can be probably open, we talked to the president, i will joke a little bit joking about that we need leadership sometimes for decision making given unpredictable leadership to make enough pressures for the rivals to believe that we can make a decision. and as we seek this kind of leadership in president trump. and this is good because without the leverage and pressure, there will be no additional spending in our defense in nato on, there will be no additional decisions for rotating military forces of united states in our countries. there will be no willingness to look into the matter of defense which we need very much. so from all of this point of views, we trust that our partner ally is investing seriously in the future of our defense not only our regions, but nato's territory defense, and in the peace and security of the world as it was before. of course the polices are coming together. ally in military cooperation, in those with economic cooperation. and i'm very happy that t

saying all the nato allies we re brussels saying all the nato allies were supportive. all nato allies expressed full support for last night's actions. it was intended to degrade the syrian regime's chemical weapons capabilities. and to deter further chemical weapons attacks against the people of syria. nato strongly condemns the repeated use of chemical weapons either syrian regime. chemicalweapons of chemical weapons either syrian regime. chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity. the secretary—general of the nato speaking in the last hour. the regime in syria remains defiant and claims to suffer no fatalities and little actual damage during the air strikes. there have been demonstrations by supporters of the assad government. this protest took place in damascus early on saturday morning, just a few hours after the raids. you and others and the united states can't shake us. they will not shake the syrian people. we've been hearing trump for a week. his words turned out to be more powerful, their missiles were destroyed in the skies in damascus, didn't affect us

the sort of set relationships that it has been have and in many ways the dependent countries of nato even the great powers like france germany and britain are centrally pulling the strings and i think part of trump's approach was to put them in the situation where they felt less secure about the relationship and the us would be more pliant and more willing to to come to mr trump and that seems to have worked yes just as his blustering yeah and it seems to have created the movement in north korea. neither germany certainly not britain and france either are willing to step up and take over the defense of their realm and they are not merely dependent on the u.s. but they've grown yes. needy and so the u.s. doesn't want to be in a position where it has to jump every time nato gets a twitch and so what he's doing is redefining the strength of the u.s. in the alliance without overcommitting and also this kind of representation speaks well with his base and they are excited because the u.s. is acting like the great power but mike mike miller the me ask you let me ask you you know would this

doesn't want to be in a position where it has to jump every time nato gets a twitch and so what he's doing is redefining the strength of the u.s. in the alliance without overcommitting and also this kind of representation speaks well with his base and they are excited because the u.s. is acting like the great power but my that it might let me ask you let me ask you but did you know would this this paradigm here does it actually make america more solid in the alliance and does it make the alliance more solid because what we have here is a moral hazard ok they're not the europeans are you know they say they're going to spend money and all that but they're just going to look to washington for their defense and you have a president is actually quite skeptical about all of these things i mean that's kind of. a very dangerous thing to be in ok because you think the i mean the european nato allies are like drug addicts they keep going to washington to get their next fix i'll give you the last twenty now give you the last twenty seconds in this part go ahead and michael go ahead. the u.s. is

let's go now to our correspondent in brussels where the nato representatives met earlier get nato looks unified on those intimacy of the airstrikes but how sure are they that this gas attack was carried out by the syrian regime could the airstrikes by these western forces be seen as premature and nato ambassadors my if they were presented here with a large amount of evidence of intelligence and it's a peer to be pretty convincing if you hear what came back from the secretary general but also from individual nato and best answers and that's bear in mind that this is not the first attack that there were a number of other chemical attacks that could be traced back to the syrian regime having said that however you know that in the multilayered in a proxy war conflict like this one even if you would find a smoking gun it would be hard to find the one who it belongs to and if you talk about legitimacy in this conflict is really difficult it points to the real dilemma of this conflict and that is that for airstrikes like we've seen them now you would need a mandate from the security council no

we addressed the need to strengthen nato and the nato alliance by ensuring that all member states honor their commitment to spend 2% and hopefully much more of g.d.p. on defense. it is essential that our nato allies increase their financial contributions so that everyone is paying their fair share. we look forward to seeing further progress towards improved burden sharing and a lot of people have stepped up. a lot of countries have stepped up. and they are going to have to continue to do so. tremendous amount of additional money has been raised for nato over the past 16 months and i'm proud to have helped but they have to keep going. in this age of international crime, smuggling, terrorism, it is also essential that we have strong border security and immigration control. this is fundamental to national defense. also vital to our security and that of our allies is america's ability to maintain a strong and robust manufacturing base, which we really are doing in the united states. we have additional steel plants opening, steel plants are expanding. aluminum is doing great. a lot of things

mathis is standing by in brussels where nato representatives are having this meeting nato unified there on the legitimacy of the airstrikes how are they that short of the gas attack was carried out by the syrian regime could the airstrikes by western forces be seen as premature though or they have been presented with a large body of evidence and with rock solid intelligence at least that is what officials have told me basically that is what that what is what the u.s. the u.k. and france repeated over and over again now we haven't seen this evidence yet and that is what particularly russians are pointing to and maybe we will never see that evidence i find it interesting though that only yesterday i was told even here in brussels by diplomats that they have also be already been presented with evidence from the organization of the prohibition of chemical weapons even though they haven't arrived at the scene yet so it's an interesting situation here the actual dilemma i think is rather the one that we have no legal foundation we have disunity in the only body that could result that conflict

we invest into reforming nato, and we would like to see strong nato strong alliance, and that's what we're going to do together >> thank you would you like to choose somebody >> your turn go ahead >> mr. trump, speaking about economy, about economic cooperation, my country, latvia, what is your message for investors in latvia and what is your opinion about investment in latvia >> i think all three would be great places to invest stable governments, incredible people hard-working, industrious people i think they would be great places to invest i would have no problem with it, although i think as president of the united states, they would call it a slight conflict of interest, perhaps. you might be hearing from these people no, i think it would be a great place. i think all three would be a great place to invest. okay >> thank you >> thank you >> estonia public broadcasting. a question to mr. trump. before the press conference, you also said that at the same time, good relationship with russia is not bad. but how are you going to deal with president vladimir putin? is he as your enemy

, more resultative nato and more efficient nato. >> has donald trump made a difference on nato? >> what is that? >> this is very risky question. she same thing in the oval office. >> i repeat pressure on all members to better pressure to all political elite that somebody else needs to protect but not themselves. so the first you do the homeworks, then you ask for your partner to come with you, and that is exactly what you did. this kind of leadership is good. i'm open. we're using this to influence their opinions in our countries, that the first we need to invest ourselves and only then the partners can come with us. >> nato has taken in billions of dollars more because of me, because i said, you're delinquent, you're not paying to many of the countries, is that right? many of the countries weren't paying. even now germany is paying 1% and they're not paying full 1%. germany hooks up a pipeline into russia where germany will be paying billions of dollars for energy into russia and i'm saying what is going on with that? how come germany is paying vast amounts of money to russia t

what nato wants is consistent, strong, reliable leadership. nato is our organization. it is not something that pays us to be over there. we are not mercenaries. nato is the glue that holds the united states and europe together. the bedrock of security. carried us through the cold war, the post cold war and we need this more than ever. >> the president talked about the amount of money needed and who was paying what amount. but what he didn't talk about is the strength of the alliance. >> working with the partners from the baltics they are unbelievably strong in their support not only for us as a country but for us in combat operations. the special operation forces were with us in both iraq and afghanistan. i had a lithuanian soldier who was killed under my command in northern iraq. these people have given more than funds. the president is confused about this. they are not contributing any money to any pot. they are spending a percentage of their gdp on their own defense funds. for him to say billions of dollars more has been allocated isn't true. it is a narrative that

, more efficient nat nato. >> and has donald trump made a difference in nato? this is a very risky question. if she says the same thing she said in the oval office. >> all of us, all members of nato is all the political elites think that somebody else needs to protect. so first, you do homework and then you ask for your partner to come with you. and that's exactly what they did. and this kind of leadership is good. i am open. using their opinions in our country but first we need to invest ourselves in not only then, the process can come with. >> president trump: nato has taken in billions of dollars more because of me. because i said you're delinquent, you're not paying to many of the countries. is that right? many of the countries. even now, germany is paying 1% and not even paying the full 1%. germany hooks up a pipeline into russia where germany is going to be paying billions of dollars for energy into russia. and saying what's going on with that? how come germany is paying vast amounts of money to russia when they hook up a pipeline? that's not right. you l

and europe's nato spending is back in the spotlight after u.s. president donald trump met with germany's chancellor merkel on friday term politicians are discussing just how much more. should shift then to the lion. and don't forget you can always get the news on the go just download our apple google play from the store that'll give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for you breaking news. to fend off photos and video. news stick around for a full round of. all the developments in germany's first division and for a lengthy thanks for watching. inequality in a global economic to. roam in the media they. join the discussion and how do you see. media forum twenty eighty.

nato sticking it a lot more money than ever before. others 33 billion more. that's a big difference. it's a privilege to host you here. i look forward to getting to know you better. you'll be meeting with representatives throughout the day and have a long and strong relationship. thank you for being here. thank you everyone. >> i have to say this, china. i have great respect for president of china into the most incredible days of my life were spent in china. many of you are with me. he is a tremendous person. but we have a problem we created a trade deficit and hourly blame are proceeding presidents of having the trade deficit of $500 billion per year. it is not something we can live with. will be working and negotiating with china. our relationship is very good and we intend to keep it that way. we have to do something to seriously relieve that trade deficit. we also have intellectual property in the neighborhood of 200 or $300 billion per year. we have a great stock market we have a great country militarily. we have just had $700 million. but we have to do

it's a miracle how we could withstand this terror just still to solve this little war supported by nato on us for no eighty year consequently as i said given that there's a recognition that you're winning time now to look at these strategic mistakes your government made because of let's not forget that your president was arguably sucking up to the british government shortly before this war began huge strategic blunders by your government as it tried to. pivot towards the west. we don't want to we really don't want to rush or lean towards the west any more we have to be more balance in our international mission ship we have to really appreciate. the help that the help and cooperation we've received from our real friends in russia in iran in china in many many other countries more than half of the world actually and we have to really. focus on strengthening the you know i want to shift with these countries instead of really trying to please the west you know the bigger additional colonial powers the west what was wrong with the elite classes in syria that they somehow thought that nato na

or nato. states to sort of accept some sort of presumption of guilt on the basis of no evidence at all so. willie a former vice president of the the o.c.d. he put this very well he said this threatens to undermine these very multilateral institutions in other words if you cry wolf that this time to be able to actually do it again they're already on thin ice as you mentioned earlier with regards to libya and so forth so this is really risky in terms of evoking this kind of stand with your allies mantra this is kind of the overriding theme so far we've seen with the united states doing as well coming in right behind britain on this as well as its nato partners so that's that's how it looks geo politically you know alexander i found it really quite extraordinary looking at the u.s. state department spokeswoman just taking a maze word i mean you don't do that in international politics you don't do it when the stakes are so high like this it is just the lack of professionalism and adds to the perce

bragg's it and nato here because i think these are very important pieces that they're trying to bring into this story here basically trying to keep some semblance of unity when there it is flagging everyone knows that go ahead patrick. you know what. the to dogs were unleashed yesterday in the british press on theresa may and boris johnson so they in a way they've kind of sprung their own trap in this sense so it's possible that if the stablished wanted to bury the embarrassment of the nova chalk hoax or the nova truck story that may and boris could very well be eventually buried with that or attached to that but then on the other hand the great breaking ranks in germany angela merkel's one of her close deputies has come out and basically. criticised britain for invoking this kind of solidarity of faith between the e.u. or nato member states to sort of accept some sort of presumption of guilt on the basis of no evidence at all so. willy the former vice president of the the o.c.d. he put this very well he said this threatens to undermine these very multilateral institutions in other wo

usa he had some nice words for pompei oh this is this is the nato chief addressing mike pompei oh. long on body experience including serving us a soldier in in germany during the cold war. provides him a perfect back room for being the top to promote over the north in states. now it's also important to note that while he was speaking pompei i was quite critical of germany for not achieving the two percent military spending target there's a two percent military spending target the nato countries are expected to reach at this point germany has not yet reached that target now it's interesting to note however that a poll of among germans showed that germans are much more concerned about u.s. president donald trump and then think that he's a bigger threat to world peace then then u.s. president russian president vladimir putin other much more threatened by the usa and president trump than they are by russia so it was quite interesting to note that but pompei received a warm reception but as always he did talk up the possibility and play up the idea that there is a consensus that the nat

before as that with regards to nato it is mainly a defensive alliance and there are so far no no sign however of the nato secretary general stoltenberg supported the attack saying it clearly hampers future capabilities of the regime to make use of chemical weapons air matinees in brussels thank you. i'm now joined by chief political correspondent melinda crane to talk about the german position and then to thank you for coming in now germany has already said that it will not be offering minutes help why exactly is that well the chancellor didn't list her reasons when she made this announcement but it essentially is a long tradition in germany to exercise their deliberate restraint when it comes to military action and that has everything to do with this country's history the history of having been a perpetrator of the holocaust the involvement in two world wars is a lesson that for many germans means absolute restraint when it comes to involvement in the military missions and as you'll remember germany did not participate in the iraq war germany actually rarely participates in what are

military planning nato countries are trying to find a balance between defense and dialogue but they have crossed the line. now the story now next clashes erupted in paris israel workers have launched one of the largest industrial strikes against president across all state transport skis got the story. to just a look behind you get a sense of the police who are out in force this is the gendarmerie and the c r s who are here to try and stop the demonstrators from going down streets and not meant to we've already seen clashes from those at the front of the demonstration they appear to be members of the anti father or the black boxes they known here in france has been smashing up business is throwing bottles at the police and setting the lights have been seen what you see normally from these guys is they try to have as much provocation to the police of the c.r.'s as possible and then we see obviously the c.r.s. returning that in kind sometimes it's a cast no tear gas as of yesterday but we are expecting things to stay heated now as if you can see in the background there is a large group

but it was the people that wanted to make sure that russia wasn't part of the process either are in nato or in the european union lot an american asian they were they did know along with it all it's intensely politicized and so what is the case because i haven't been given any evidence yet ok but it seems like it's already gone to trial and the same people that brought to trial the jury go ahead patrick yeah it's a curious case imagine the prosecutor makes the accusations against the defendant but won't allow the defendant to see the evidence and is presumed guilty straight out of the gate it's absolutely incredible but you know let's look at this where did this term nova chuck come from and this is really interesting and this is something that's kind of casually glossed over by the media there is no there's very little evidence of any program or anything called nova trucks even in back to the soviet union chemical weapons research and development days so what it is is a g.v. class which is a two three two three zero two two six zero of agents and the reason this term nova chalk has been

we're investing into reforming nato and we would like to see strong nato. strong alliance, that is what we are going to do together. >> thank you. would you like to choose somebody, president? >> your turn. go ahead. reporter: mr. trump, speaking about the economy, about economic cooperation in my country in latvia, what is your message for investors in latvia and what, what is your opinion about investment in latvia? >> i think all three would be great places to invest, stable government, incredible people, hard-working industrious people. i think they would be great places to invest. i would have no problem with it. although i think as president of the united states they would call it a slight conflict of interest perhaps. you might be hearing from these people. no, i think it would be a great place. i think all three would be a great place to invest. okay? >> thank you. >> thank you. reporter: estonia public broadcasting. first a question to president trump. as said the concern of the baltic states is russia and before the press conference you also said

>> did you say specifically in nato? >> in nato territory. >> we do not have plans to increase. we have, with your help over the last three years, increased to the level we believe is sustainable. >> i understand that. would you be in favor of that? should we give you the right budget, would you be in faye of put manager positioned, military personnel in nato territory? >> i'll be honest right now, the secretary has laid out the national defense strategy, we pretty much know what the forces that will be available over the next several years are and we believe to meet our requirements for i shurens and deterrence we have the right u.s. composition in place right now, realizing that's in the context of the other 28 member thoffers nato. >> from some of the studies i've read and been involved with what i've seen is there's a clear picture that i've been told we have a match problem in the eastern european theater, specifically when dealing with russia and russian armaments. do you agree with some of these studies in terms of how we can fix that? >> the math problem is accurate, sir