US President Donald Trump has doubled-down on leaked comments made by White House officials by accusing Europe of "freeloading" off the US "for decades".
Speaking to journalists at the White House, the US President hit out at European leaders over spending in Ukraine, asking why "they are in for $100billion, and we're in for $350billion".
Shaking his head, Trump simply said "it shouldn't be".
When he was asked whether Europe was "freeloading" off of the US, Trump responded: "You really want me to answer this? Yeah, I think they've been freeloading.
Donald Trump has accused Europe of "freeloading" off of the US "for decades"
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Yesterday, top British and European diplomats became enraged after private messages from Trump's top team were leaked about American plans for air strikes against Houthi rebels.
After an editor was accidentally added to the group chat, Vice President JD Vance lamented having to "bail out Europe again", while defence secretary Pete Hegseth responded: "I fully share your loathing of European freeloading. It's PATHETIC."
"The European Union's been absolutely terrible to us on trade. Terrible.
"And, as you know, Nato, I got them to pay hundreds of billions of dollars - they were way behind."
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The President's criticism has followed months of disgruntlement from Washington over Europe's defence spending - leading to public clashes with world leaders in the White House.
During Emmanuel Macron's visit to the US, the French President corrected Trump on the facts surrounding European assistance to Ukraine.
The US President claimed that Europe was "loaning" funds to Ukraine - against the backdrop of attempting to negotiate a new deal with Volodymyr Zelensky on Ukraine's minerals in exchange for US military support.
However, Macron was quick to interrupt the Republican to make the correction.
"No, in fact, to be frank, we paid. We paid 60 per cent of the total effort. It was like the US: loans, guarantees, grants," he interjected.
"We have $230billion in frozen assets in Europe, Russian assets. But this is not collateral of a loan because it is not our belonging. So they are frozen."
Emmanuel Macron visited the White House last month
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However, data from German think tank Kiel Institute for the World Economy recorded that Europe, as a collective force, had committed more than double the amount of military, financial and humanitarian aid to Zelensky's nation in December than America had.
While Europe committed $258billion, the US had only committed $124billion.
Additionally, the US straggled behind Europe in military, financial and humanitarian support that had been allocated by about $19billion.
However, America has beaten Europe specifically in the amount of military aid allocated by a slight margin of $2billion.
