The NATO summit was kicked off today in The Hague in the Netherlands today, facing headwinds. U.S. President Donald Trump is arriving after having questioned the definition of the collective defense provision under Article 5 of the NATO charter, and the alliance is allowing Spain to buck the commitment to spend at least 3.5% of GDP on its military forces, to which all NATO members are supposed to agree at the summit’s plenary session, tomorrow.
Onboard Air Force One, a reporter asked Trump whether the United States remains committed to NATO’s Article 5 clause. “Depends on your definition. There are numerous definitions of Article 5,” he said, reported Politico. “You know that, right? But I’m committed to being their friends.”
“I’m committed to saving lives,” he added. “I’m committed to life and safety. And I’m going to give you an exact definition when I get there. I just don’t want to do it on the back of an airplane.”
The summit itself is being run on an abbreviated schedule, AP reported yesterday. An informal dinner will be held tonight and one working session Wednesday morning, June 25. A very short summit statement has been drafted to ensure that the meeting does not get derailed by fights over details and wording, AP says.
Nonetheless, there’s still tension over the military spending commitment of 3.5% of GDP and another 1.5% for broader security spending. The Spanish government announced last week that it could not meet that commitment, throwing the whole plan into disarray, so NATO made a deal with Madrid that it wouldn’t have to. Incidentally, AP noted, Trump’s demand that Alliance members have to meet the 5% commitment doesn’t apply to the U.S., either. “I don’t think we should, but I think they should,” he said last week while lashing out at Spain for refusing the 5% level.
During a preview press conference yesterday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte invoked the alleged threat of a Russian invasion of Europe in about five years, as justification for huge increases in defense spending. “There’s widespread agreement within NATO that at this moment, today, if Russia would attack us, our reaction will be devastating, and the Russians know this,” he said. “But there is great worry in many circles of NATO. We have heard the Chief of Defense in Germany, a couple of weeks ago, and many other senior military leaders speaking about this, and also senior intelligence community people speaking about, that between 3, 5, 7 years from now, Russia will be able to successfully attack us, if we do not start investing more today.”
