Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
Donald Trump’s commitment to Nato should not worry allies as long as they drastically increase their defence spending, according to the alliance’s secretary-general at the outset of a summit designed to placate the US president.
While many European allies, including Germany, France and the UK have committed to meet Trump’s new target of 5 per cent of GDP on defence over the next decade, Spain has secured an opt-out, increasing the likelihood of a clash at the Nato leaders’ meeting in The Hague on Wednesday.
Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte on Tuesday said that if allies spent more, they could rest assured Trump would not withdraw US guarantees that have underpinned the continent’s security for decades.
“There is total commitment by the US President . . . to Nato,” Rutte said ahead of the event. “However it comes with an expectation that we will deal with this . . . huge irritant that we are not spending enough.
“My message to my European colleagues is: stop worrying so much . . . Stop running around being worried about the US. They are with us,” he added.
To meet Trump’s demands, Rutte has drawn up a plan for allies to allocate 3.5 per cent of their GDP to core military spending and 1.5 per cent on areas such as cyber and infrastructure by 2035, to fill gaps in European capabilities.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that a massive defence spending plan presented to his cabinet on Tuesday showed that Europe’s largest nation was a “strong and reliable” partner.
“We’ve showed our allies we can be relied upon,” he told German MPs before departing for The Hague. “Germany is back on the international stage.”
Germany plans to boost military spending by more than two-thirds over the next four years, reaching 3.5 per cent of GDP in core military spending in 2029, faster than France and the UK.
But Spain has refused to commit to the overall 5 per cent target and secured an opt-out by pledging to meet the Nato capabilities goal at what it estimates will be a lower cost.
Other capitals have also requested the same “flexibility” that Rutte has granted Madrid, increasing the risk for the summit to end in acrimony and triggering Trump’s ire over what he sees as European allies freeloading on American largesse.
“I’m going now to Nato . . . I think it’s going to be successful. We’ll see,” Trump told reporters outside the White House before departing for the summit on Tuesday.
Last week, Trump cited Spain as being “notorious” for not spending enough, and said that Nato would need to “deal with” the country. “Spain has been a very low payer . . . Spain has to pay what everybody else has to pay,” he told reporters.
Rutte said increased spending was not just about appeasing Trump but also ensuring Europe could stand up to a revanchist Russia.
Moscow “could try something” against a Nato member in “three, five, seven years”, Rutte said.
“We know that Russia is reconstituting itself at a speed that is really . . . frightening,” he added.
“We need the 5 per cent spending . . . I am hopeful we will get there,” Rutte said. “If we want to avoid war, spend more.”
Additional reporting by Laura Pitel in Berlin