Rutte battles Trump loyalty demands at NATO summit
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- Mark Rutte heads into this week's NATO summit in Turkiye trying to keep Trump committed to the alliance, having spent nearly two years countering his threats to walk away through direct praise.
- At a White House meeting last month, Rutte pitched Trump with a chart labeled "The Trump Trillion" showing $1.2 trillion in European and Canadian defense spending since 2017 and a $300 billion backlog in European military orders, framing the spending as creating tens of thousands of US jobs.
- Trump said he was still unhappy that some NATO allies refused to join the Iran war launched alongside Israel, while Rutte pushed back noting up to 5,000 US planes took off from European bases before an April ceasefire.
- The Pentagon surprised NATO allies last month by announcing reductions in the troops, warships, aircraft and drones it would provide if a member came under attack, while Trump sent mixed signals on whether US troop levels in Europe would rise or fall.
- Trump has repeatedly threatened to leave NATO, considered pulling US troops from Europe, vowed to take over Greenland from Denmark, and questioned whether he would defend a member not spending enough on its military.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hosting this year's summit; his close ties with Trump may keep Trump engaged but are unlikely to bridge internal alliance differences.
- Russia has been testing Europe's defenses with drone flights near military bases in several countries, according to a study released Thursday, intensifying pressure on the alliance to convert spending pledges into military strength.
Why it matters: With Russia actively probing European defenses via drone flights and the Pentagon already pre-announcing reduced military support for allies under attack, NATO's Article 5 guarantee now effectively depends on a president who has repeatedly threatened to abandon it — forcing European allies to convert this year's spending pledges into real military capability before a crisis tests the commitment.