Reuters | Fact Check: US contributes 16% of NATO annual budget, not two-thirds

Indirect U.S. financial contributions to the alliance of 32 countries, opens new tab, including Canada and more than two dozen European countries, include military forces but do not form part of the organization’s annual budget. The social media posts misleadingly suggest the entire U.S. defense budget is spent defending NATO. It is possible to make the argument that everything the U.S. does in terms of defense could benefit NATO, Jamie Shea, opens new tab, a senior fellow at the Brussels-based Friends of Europe think tank, said in an email.