Told world leaders that rich countries need to pay US for military protection: Trump

Donald Trump has claimed that he reminded global leaders that American protection and American money cannot be taken for granted.
US media reported extensively on how Donald Trump was uncharacteristically muted on his trip to Europe on the occasion of World War I remembrance. Yet, the US president blasted all reports to smithereens moments after landing back home, claiming that he had told world leaders off for ‘using’ his country unfairly.
Trump, in a series of tweets on Monday, claimed that he had told global leaders during his visit to France that the United States cannot be taken for granted anymore. “Never easy bringing up the fact that the U.S. must be treated fairly, which it hasn’t, on both Military and Trade. We pay for LARGE portions of other countries military protection,” he wrote. “I told them that this situation cannot continue – It is, and always has been, ridiculously unfair to the United States. It is time that these very rich countries either pay the United States for its great military protection, or protect themselves…and Trade must be made FREE and FAIR!”
Trump was in Paris along with global leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to a report in the Washington Post, Trump appeared sidelined and was mostly devoid of expressions throughout his stay in the city. This has prompted many back home to wonder if Trump’s ‘America First’ policy has turned into an ‘America Alone’ reality.
The US and its traditional allies in Europe have not always been on the same page since Trump became the American President. He has termed French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal for a European Army as an insult, has previously charged Germans for being controlled by Russia and for economic and trade reasons, and has even called Canadian PM Justin Trudeau meek and weak. In his most recent overseas trip, he cancelled a visit to American World War I cemetery in France due to rains which is being seen not just as an insult to French hosts but also to American war heroes.
And yet, the barrage of tweets from Trump claiming that he had been strong and firm with world leaders – reminding them of how much US has paid them for their security – is likely to be, say political analysts, more to satiate his supporters rather than define a clear foreign policy.