Donald Trump reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to NATO during a recent summit, emphasizing the importance of defense spending among member nations. He described the U.S. presidency as “the strongest in the alliance.” He called on allies to meet their commitments and increase military spending. NATO includes 32 member nations today. He made it clear that now is the time for countries, like the UK, to roll up their sleeves and turn their aid commitments into concrete results.
During the summit, Trump noted that without his administration’s influence, the commitment to enhance defense spending would not have materialized. He tried to drum up support for raising the defense budgets to 5% of GDP. This proposal is a big leap from the current target of 2%. The maneuver is intended to bring European and Canadian defense expenditures into line with the United States. It aspires to advocate for deeper military cooperation between allies.
“Without President Trump, this would not have happened.” – Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General
The summit included a much larger discussion about defense commitments in several countries. Greece recently declared that it is already spending above the 3% of GDP floor on defense. At the same time, Spain claimed that it could satisfy NATO’s goals with defense spending under 5%. Belgium challenged Spain’s claims, showing less than full faith from at least one ally that these promises are realistic or possible.
Trump expressed optimism about these developments, stating, “I’ve been asking them to go up to 5% for a number of years, and they’re going up to 5%, that’s a big [jump] from 2% and a lot of people didn’t even pay the 2%, so I think that’s going to be very big news.” The ex-president’s comments highlighted the need for allied countries to take on more of their defense burden.
In May, Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre underlined the idea that NATO should meet challenges in the Arctic. He stressed the crucial situation for the regions of the High North too. He painted Russia as “sprawled on the ground, exhausted from its aggression in Ukraine,” indicating that the geopolitical tides are changing. Støre called on European countries to step up their own commitments to their security as a response to these challenges.
Finland’s leadership was not far behind, stating much the same about the necessity of reinforcing alliances, but their security. The Finnish government stressed the need to build strong ties with partners to strengthen its defense capacity.
Germany recently announced plans to increase its core defense spending to 3.5% over the next decade. Friedrich Merz, leader of the German opposition Christian Democratic Union party, welcomed this step, underscoring the wider European push for huge investment in military assets.
“With 5%, the Europeans and the Canadians will equalise their defence spending with the United States. So this is not about American taxpayers paying more; this is about Europeans, Canadians paying more. And again, this would not have happened [without Trump].” – Mark Rutte
The alliance’s enthusiastic commitment to increase defense spending is far more consequential than the numbers involved. Andrzej Duda, Poland’s President, called on NATO members to focus on linking available resources with required capabilities. He said investment with the right military efficiently is essential to restoring true protection readiness.
“The important part now is the percentage is set, but it’s only important if we’re able to have that translated into the capabilities, so we have to invest in the right equipment that goes together.” – Andrzej Duda
In describing the alliance’s internal balance, Trump said there should be fairer burden-sharing within the alliance among member states. An even more subtle point he made was that the purpose of such alliances is to avoid “free riding” on the defense promises of other countries. His remarks represent a persistent and legitimate worry about holding every nation accountable to do their fair share of the burden in our shared defense.
On the flip side, the summit provided an opportunity for open discussions and debate amid rising geopolitical tensions, especially in regard to Ukraine. Specifically, Trump hailed his upcoming meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He stressed that from the outset, they’ll be talking about the big challenges the region is facing today.
“We’ll discuss the obvious. We’ll discuss his difficulties. He’s got a little difficulty. Zelenskyy, he’s a nice guy.” – Donald Trump