U.S. President Donald Trump launched a sharp public attack on Germany on July 11 for supporting a Baltic Sea gas pipeline deal with Russia, saying Berlin had become "a captive to Russia" and he criticized it for failing to raise defence spending more. Trump, meeting reporters with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, before a NATO summit in Brussels, said it was "very inappropriate" that the United States was paying for European defence against Russia while Germany, the biggest European economy, was supporting gas deals with Moscow.