NATO leaders agreed on Wednesday on a massive hike in defence spending after pressure from US President Donald Trump, and expressed their “ironclad commitment” to come to each other’s aid if attacked. The 32 leaders endorsed a final summit statement saying: “Allies commit to invest 5 per cent of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence- and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations.” Spain had already officially announced that it cannot meet the target, and others have voiced reservations, but the investment pledge includes a review of spending in 2029 to monitor progress and reassess the security threat posed by Russia. The leaders also underlined their “ironclad commitment” to NATO’s collective security guarantee – “that an attack on one is an attack on all.” Ahead of the summit, Trump had again raised doubts over whether the United States would defend its allies.

 

Trump attends NATO summit: US President Donald Trump huddled on Wednesday with members of a NATO alliance that he has worked to bend to his will over the years and whose members are rattled by his latest comments casting doubt on the US commitment to its mutual defence guarantees. Trump’s comments en route to the Netherlands that his fidelity to Article 5 “depends on your definition” drew attention at the NATO summit, as will the new and fragile Iran-Israel ceasefire that the Republican President helped broker after the US unloaded airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. At the same time, the alliance is poised to enact one of Trump’s chief priorities: a pledge by NATO member countries to increase, sometimes significantly, how much they spend on their defence. “I’ve been asking them to go up to 5 per cent for a number of years,” Trump said Wednesday as he met with Mark Rutte, the alliance’s secretary-general. “I think that’s going to be very big news.”

 

The boost in spending follows years of Trump’s complaints that other countries weren’t paying their fair share for membership in an alliance created as a bulwark against threats from the former Soviet Union. Most NATO countries, with the key exception of Spain, are preparing to endorse the 5 per cent pledge, motivated to bolster their own defences not just by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine but also, perhaps, to placate Trump. As a candidate in 2016, Trump suggested that as President he would not necessarily heed the alliance’s mutual defence guarantees outlined in Article 5 of the NATO treaty. In March of this year, he expressed uncertainty that NATO would come to the United States’ defence if needed, though the alliance did just that after the September 11, 2001 attacks.