Trump to speak at NATO Summit amid warming relations with alliance's leaders
President Donald Trump is set to take the main stage on the second day of the NATO Summit in The Hague Netherlands offering a surprisingly cordial tone toward the alliance he has long criticized The president is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and other world leaders before holding a press conference Trump also disclosed he will perhaps greet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who is attending the summit amid his ongoing push for Ukraine to join NATO In text messages shared by Trump Rutte congratulated him for making Europe pay in a big way through a new defense spending target and for brokering an end to the fresh conflict between Israel and Iran TRUMP HEADS TO NATO SUMMIT AS EUROPE AGREES TO HEED HIS DEFENSE SPENDING DEMANDS Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action on Iran That was truly extraordinary and something no one else dared to do Rutte wrote as Trump flew toward the summit It makes us all safer Israel and Iran entered into a U S -brokered ceasefire on Tuesday that almost fell apart though Israel called off its counterattack at Trump's urging You are flying into another big success in The Hague this evening Rutte added referencing the new agreement for NATO members to increase defense spending to of GDP NATO allies first agreed in to spend of GDP on defense a goal multiple failed to meet for years Now after Trump s repeated calls for Europe to pull its weight the alliance has approved a more ambitious target with an exception for Spain which has long struggled to meet even the original benchmark The new figure breaks down into for core defense spending and for related infrastructure including cyberwarfare and intelligence NATO ambassadors agreed on the compromise text Sunday WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE UPCOMING NATO SUMMIT TRUMP SPENDING UKRAINE IRANFor bulk allies the target marks a considerable leap Poland in the present leads all member states with of GDP going toward defense The U S stands at Trump announced he doesn t believe the U S requirements to reach the full threshold a position backed by Rutte The United States is already spending almost on core defense and no doubt they are close to spending the on defense-related items Rutte commented Countries like Estonia and Poland are very close For countless others it will still be a long road ahead but it s really fundamental that we do this He also called on defense industries on both sides of the Atlantic to ramp up production It is exclusively unthinkable that Russia with an market times smaller than NATO s should be able to outproduce and outgun us Rutte explained Tuesday He urged Europe Make your defenses so strong that no one dares to attack you Despite the progress Trump cast fresh doubt on whether the U S would abide by NATO s cornerstone mutual defense clause Article which obligates members to defend one another in the event of an attack It depends on your definition Trump noted when inquired if he would honor the commitment There s numerous definitions of Article you know that right But I'm committed to being their friends I've become friends with various of those leaders and I'm committed to helping them Still U S Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker sought to reassure allies telling reporters The United States isn t going anywhere Rutte echoed that message telling partners to stop worrying so much and focus on strengthening their own defenses
