U.S. President Donald Trump hailed a “historic… monumental win” for the United States, Europe, and “Western civilisation” as the NATO alliance agreed to his demand to equalise the burden of common defence with a five per cent of GDP floor on military spending for its members.
Speaking at a press conference before he departed The Hague in the Netherlands to return to the United States, President Donald Trump saluted a “highly productive NATO summit” and particularly noted he came away with a changed perspective on European defence.
The centrepiece for the Hague summit, the first major NATO meeting in years, is the adoption of a new floor for spending by member states on their own and collective defence. While members had been expected to spend two per cent or more of their own GDP on defence until now, that figure has now more than doubled to five per cent of GDP, even if the new figure will include new types of spending not previously considered to count as defence spending.
This change has been widely portrayed as a major victory for President Trump, who has been working to get NATO’s European and Canadian members to shulder more of the burden for over a decade. He was effusive in his praise, stating “tremendous things have been accomplished as you probably noticed” and saying: “in a very historic milestone this week the NATO allies committed to dramatically increase their defence spending to that five per cent of GDP… this is a monumental win for the United States because we were carrying much more than our fair share. But this is a big win for Europe and for Western civilisation”.
When NATO allies meet the “Hague Defence Commitment”, “it will add more than $1 trillion per year to our common defence”, Trump said.
While other NATO members taking more of the cost burden is good for U.S. taxpayers, it will also be good for American business as well, the President pointed out, as U.S. defence contractors will benefit from new orders.
Evidently discussions were held during the closed leaders’ session away from the cameras which had an outsized impact on Trump’s thinking on NATO and European defence, the President saying he left the summit today with a new perspective. He said:
…I came because it is something I’m supposed to do. But I leave here a little bit different.
I watched the heads of these countries get up, and the love and the passion they showed for their countries was unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, they want to protec their country, and they need the United States. Without the United States it is not going to be the same… it was really moving to see it.
They love their countries and they were really respectful to me… I left here saying these people really love their countries, it’s not a rip-off, and we are here to help them protect their country.
Earlier in the day President Trump affirmed his commitment to Article 5, the mutual defence NATO founding treaty clause that states an attack on one is an attack on all. While NATO leaders have now for years expressed their gratitude to President Trump for strengthening the alliance the legacy media has taken longer to catch up with this perspective, and even to today has continued to paint Trump as a destabilising element for the alliance.
Responding to these barbs, the President said in an earlier session: “I stand with it [Article 5], that’s why I’m here. If I didn’t stand with it, I wouldn’t be here.” Responding to a journalist cutting in to ask “so you would defend countries even if they don’t pay their fair share”, Trump continued: “well what did I just say? Yes, of course. Why would I be here?”.
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