Nato Chief Commends Trump for Pushing Europe to Increase Defense Spending

Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte has praised US President Donald Trump for making Europe “pay in a big way”, as allied leaders gathered in the Netherlands for a historic summit that could unite them around a new defence spending pledge or widen divisions among the 32 member countries.

The US president, while flying aboard Air Force One en route to The Hague, published a screenshot of a private message from Mr Rutte saying: “Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe and the world. You will achieved something NO American president in decades could get done.”

Mr Rutte also wrote: “Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win.”

Nato confirmed that he sent the message.

The allies are likely to endorse a goal of spending 5% of their gross domestic product on their security, to be able to fulfil the alliance’s plans for defending against outside attack.

Still, Spain has said it cannot, and that the target is “unreasonable”.

Slovakia said that it reserves the right to decide how to reach the target by Nato’s new 2035 deadline.

“There’s a problem with Spain. Spain is not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them, frankly,” US President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way to the summit.

In 2018, a Nato summit during Mr Trump’s first term unravelled due to a dispute over defence spending.

Ahead of the two-day meeting, Britain, France and Germany committed to the 5% goal. Host country the Netherlands is also on board. Nations closer to the borders of Ukraine, Russia and its ally Belarus had previously pledged to do so.

Mr Trump’s first appearance at Nato since returning to the White House was supposed to centre on how the US secured the historic military spending pledge from others in the security alliance — effectively bending it to its will.

But in the spotlight instead is Mr Trump’s decision to strike three nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran that the administration says eroded Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, as well as the president’s sudden announcement that Israel and Iran had reached a “complete and total ceasefire”.

Ukraine has also suffered as a result of that conflict. It has created a need for weapons and ammunition that Kyiv desperately wants, and shifted the world’s attention away.

Past Nato summits have focused almost entirely on the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.

Still, Mr Rutte insists it remains a vital issue for Nato, and that the allies can manage more than one conflict.

“If we would not be able to deal with… the Middle East, which is very big and commanding all the headlines, and Ukraine at the same time, we should not be in the business of politics and military at all,” he said. “If you can only deal with one issue at a time, that will be that. Then let other people take over.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in The Hague for a series of meetings, despite his absence from a leaders’ meeting aiming to seal the agreement to boost military spending.

It is a big change since the summit in Washington last year, when the military alliance’s weighty communique included a vow to supply long-term security assistance to Ukraine, and a commitment to back the country “on its irreversible path” to Nato membership.

Mr Zelensky’s first official engagement was with Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Dick Schoof at his official residence just across the road from the summit venue.

But in a telling sign of Ukraine’s status at the summit, neither leader mentioned Nato. Ukraine’s bid to join the alliance has been put in deep freeze by Mr Trump.

“Let me be very clear, Ukraine is part of the family that we call the Euro-Atlantic family,” Mr Schoof told Mr Zelensky, who in turn said he sees his country’s future in peace “and of course, a part of a big family of EU family”.

Mr Schoof used the meeting to announce a new package of Dutch support to Kyiv including 100 radar systems to detect drones and a move to produce drones for Ukraine in the Netherlands, using Kyiv’s specifications.

The US has made no new public pledges of support to Ukraine since Mr Trump took office six months ago.

Meeting later with Mr Rutte and top EU officials, Mr Zelensky appealed for European investment in Ukraine’s defence industry, which can produce weapons and ammunition more quickly and cheaply than elsewhere in Europe.

“No doubt, we must stop (Russian President Vladimir) Putin now and in Ukraine. But we have to understand that his objectives reach beyond Ukraine. European countries need to increase defence spending,” he said.

In a joint tribune on the eve of this year’s summit, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said they backed US peace efforts that should preserve Ukraine’s sovereignty and European security.

“For as long as the current trajectory lasts, Russia will find in France and Germany an unshakeable determination. What is at stake will determine European stability for the decades to come,” they wrote in the Financial Times.

“We will ensure that Ukraine emerges from this war prosperous, robust and secure, and will never live again under the fear of Russian aggression,” the two leaders wrote.