NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised President Donald Trump for significantly increasing defence spending within the alliance. Rutte, standing with Trump, presented data showing that European allies and Canada had invested over $1.2 trillion more in security since 2017, creating jobs in the United States. He highlighted a substantial rise in defence spending, with an extra $140 billion spent during Trump’s current term alone.
Rutte emphasized that the total increase in defence spending was projected to surpass $250 billion over two years, attributing this surge to Trump’s persistent pressure on allies. He pointed out the economic benefits for the U.S., noting that European investments supported 83,000 American jobs, with an additional 112,000 jobs backed by European purchases from U.S. defence manufacturers. Rutte underscored the importance of expanding defence production, a key agenda for the upcoming NATO summit.
Trump, while acknowledging the progress, raised concerns about allies meeting NATO’s new defence spending target. He questioned whether countries were fulfilling the requirement to pay five percent of GDP towards defence. Rutte acknowledged that not all nations had reached the target but highlighted significant progress, including Germany doubling its defence spending by 2029 and other allies making substantial increases. Rutte also credited Trump’s leadership for driving the agreement on increased defence spending.
