WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is set to head to the Netherlands on Tuesday, where he will huddle with his fellow heads of state from North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries for its annual two-day summit.
While this year’s gathering is expected to bring a major new spending agreement in a move Trump has long pushed for, it is also coming just days after the U.S. president ordered strikes on Iran, likely giving the conflict in the Middle East a central role at the meeting.
The summit, which brings together the military alliance’s 32-member nations, is taking place in The Hague and will mark the first with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte – a native of the host city – at the head.
Addressing reporters at a pre-summit press conference on Monday, Rutte noted the “truly historic” moment in which this year’s gathering is taking place. He said security challenges for the alliance are growing.
“As the world becomes more dangerous, allied leaders will take bold decisions to strengthen our collective defense, making NATO a stronger, a fairer and a more lethal alliance,” Rutte said.
The NATO chief said the “key deliverable,” which could also be described as the main concrete achievement of the gathering, will be a new defense investment plan that includes a commitment from member nations to seek to spend 5% of their GDP on defense. The new benchmark marks a substantial increase from the 2% countries set in 2014.
Such an agreement, which Rutte called a “quantum leap that is ambitious, historic and fundamental to securing our future,” marks a significant victory for Trump, who has long been critical of the amount NATO countries spend on their militaries. The president has specifically pushed for the bumb up to 5%, despite the U.S. itself not currently reaching the threshold.
Trump administration officials have sought to assure allies that the U.S. is committed to the alliance, formed in 1949 to counter security concerns from the Soviet Union during the Cold War. But Trump has made clear his displeasure with NATO, saying on the 2024 campaign trail that Russia should be able to do whatever it wants to member countries that don’t meet defense spending targets. Article 5 of NATO’s treaty establishes that an attack on one ally is an attack on all.
Rutte said at the pre-summit press conference that all NATO member countries are expected to meet the 2% target this year.
Multiple outlets, however, reported that Spain will not commit to the new 5% goal and reached a deal with NATO to be excluded from the pact.
On a call with reporters ahead of the trip, a senior U.S. official focused on the pledged increase in defense spending from allies as the president’s objective at the summit. The official also said Trump would look to urge member nations to improve industrial capacities to ensure supply chains can produce critical minerals, weapons and other products key for security.
Trump will hold meetings with world leaders individually on the sidelines of the summit as well, the official added.
Also expected to be on the agenda at the gathering is the more than three-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump’s thus far unsuccessful efforts to end the conflict –– which he said on the campaign trail he could stop on his first day back in office –– has led the U.S. leader to express deep frustration with both sides.
Rutte noted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be in The Hague for the summit. Trump was expected to meet with the Ukrainian leader during the Group of Seven summit in Canada last week, but he departed the gathering and returned to Washington early due to the Israel-Iran conflict and did not sit down with Zelenskyy.
Taking questions at Monday’s pre-summit press conference, the NATO chief maintained that the path for Ukraine to eventually join the alliance is “irreversible,” despite Trump declaring that such a move will not take place.