President Donald Trump is set to attend the NATO summit in The Hague, where discussions will extend beyond Ukraine to address the growing Iran crisis and other global issues. The summit, scheduled to begin on Wednesday, marks a significant shift from previous engagements, as Trump will be focusing on pressing matters including the recent United States’ military actions in the Middle East.
A senior Trump official confirmed to the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that the president still intends to attend the summit, which will be held starting Wednesday. Trump will depart for the Netherlands on Tuesday and arrive late in the evening of the same day, marking a slight schedule change from his originally planned departure date of Monday, according to previous reports.
The schedule change comes after Trump abruptly left the G7 economic summit in Canada to address the ongoing situation in the Middle East shortly after Saturday’s events. The summit between foreign leaders is expected to include conversations about Trump’s recent decision to involve the United States in Israel’s campaign in the Middle East.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to be in attendance as well, with leaders expected to discuss ongoing assistance to Ukraine amid its ongoing war with Russia. However, Ukraine’s crisis is not expected to be the central issue of concern, with global tensions in Iran likely to take a major chunk of the summit’s attention.
Leaders are also expected to discuss NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s proposal that each member country contribute at least 5% of their gross domestic product to defense spending. The idea, framed as a Trump win, has been rejected by Spain, while others have taken issue with the speed at which the move to increase NATO-member defense spending has taken.
The summit will end on Wednesday, and Trump will depart back to Washington thereafter. There will be heavy security and protesters have already taken to the streets in protest of the upcoming summit.