NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during the wrapping-up press conference of a two-day NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) defense ministers' meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Oct. 25, 2019. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

 
The US is to cut its contribution to NATO's operating budget, officials said on Thursday, with Germany increasing payments as the alliance tries to appease US President Donald Trump ahead of a summit next week.

Trump has repeatedly ­criticized European members for freeloading on the US, singling out Germany for lagging behind on an alliance commitment to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defense.

While most of Trump's anger has been focused on European national defense budgets, there has also been US grumbling about how much Washington contributes to NATO's own running costs, and the 29-member alliance has now agreed to a change.

"Under the new formula, cost shares attributed to most European allies and Canada will go up, while the US share will come down," a NATO official said.

The US currently pays 22.1 percent of the NATO budget - which totaled $2.5 billion in 2019 - and Germany 14.8 percent, under a formula based on each country's gross national income. Under the new agreement, the US will cut its contribution to 16.35 percent of the total, Germany's will rise to the same level and other allies will pay more.

Though the sums involved are small in military terms - the 29 alliance members spent a total of nearly $1 trillion on defense in 2018 - not all allies are happy with the move.

Diplomats say France has refused to go along with the new arrangement and will keep its contribution the same at 10.5 percent, arguing that the deal to change the figures was cooked up between Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel without properly consulting other allies.