US Envoy Heaps Pressure on Czechs to Boost Defense Spending

The US dialed up pressure on the Czech Republic after billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s government pushed through a budget that fell short of NATO defense-spending targets.

President Donald Trump has harangued North Atlantic Treaty Organization members for spending too little on the militaries — and oversaw a new NATO benchmark of spending 5% of economic output on defense.

Babis, who deployed Trump-like rhetoric on migration on the campaign trail last year, scrapped the previous administration’s defense-spending targets when he returned to power in December.

“All Allies must pull their weight,” US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitakersaid in ...