The Defense Department has not brought up with European allies President Donald Trump's controversial idea for countries to pay the full cost of stationing American forces on their land, plus 50 percent, a top Pentagon official told a House Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday, The Hill reported.
Acting assistant secretary of Defense for international security affairs Kathryn Wheelbarger said the president's demand might have been raised with Pacific allies, but "it's not a conversation we've had in my portfolio at all."
In Trump's so-called "cost plus 50" formula, first reported by Bloomberg, he is demanding countries where American troops are based pay the full price of keeping those forces in their nation, plus another 50 percent, meaning they would have to pay at least five times more than they do now.
Former senior American military commanders have slammed the idea as a "colossal mistake" and "pure idiocy," according to Defense One.
Retired three-star general Ben Hodges, who was the most recent commanding general of U.S. Army Europe, said the idea "shows either a complete lack of understanding or a complete disregard for the value of the access we get from having bases in Europe . . . You can't defend America from Virginia, North Carolina, and California."
Politicians, including top Republican lawmakers, have also blasted the plan as harmful to American interests and its ties with needed allies.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney added the proposal would be "absolutely devastating" to American diplomacy, according to The Hill.
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