President Donald Trump is set to meet Nato leaders for potentially fractious talks at a summit in Brussels shortly.
Ahead of his visit, Mr Trump hit out at the EU on trade and at his Nato allies for failing to spend enough on defence.
He was met with a sharp rebuke from European Council President Donald Tusk, who accused the president of criticising Europe “almost daily”.
“Dear America, appreciate your allies, after all you don’t have that many.”
Mr Tusk added that the EU spent more than Russia on defence, and as much as China.
He said the US did not and would not have a better ally than the EU, reminding the president that European troops had also fought and died in Afghanistan after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US.
For his part, President Trump predicted that the Nato meeting could be harder than his summit with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, in Finland next Monday.
What is the defence spending row about?
President Trump has said the US is being “taken advantage of” by other members of the Nato alliance, which was set up in 1949 to counter the Soviet Union, of which Russia is the main successor state.
His main objection is that a number of member states have not increased their defence budgets to meet a 2014 goal.
Nato figures released on Tuesday showed the extent of the shortfall, with 24 of Nato’s 29 members forecast to fall below the alliance’s target of spending 2% of GDP on defence in 2018.
The US currently spends more than 3.5% of its GDP on defence. Among European members, Greece, the UK and Estonia spend over 2%.
Washington pays about 22% of Nato’s running costs but European officials say just 15% of America’s overall defence spending happens in Europe on Nato business.
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Source: BBC
