Defense spending

Shanahan: Charging allies to house US troops, plus 50 percent surcharge, isn’t happening

 Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Thursday that the Trump administration is not looking to impose a new structure on allied nations that would charge those countries the cost of housing U.S. troops inside their borders, plus an extra 50 percent surcharge.

Asked by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, about whether the plan, first reported as under consideration by Bloomberg, would risk “driving our allies away from us,” Shanahan insisted that the reporting was “erroneous.”

“Senator, we won’t do cost-plus 50 percent,” Shanahan said, in what was his most energized comment of the hearing up to that point. He then outlined his view on getting allies to contribute more to defense.

“We’re not going to run a business, and we’re not going to run a charity. The important part is that people pay their fair share — and payment comes in lots of different forms. It can be contributions, like in Afghanistan,” Shanahan said. “But at the end of the day, people need to carry their fair share, and not everyone can contribute, but it is not about cost-plus 50 percent.”