US President Donald Trump has publicly endorsed NATO’s recent summit in The Hague, calling it ‘great’ and the ‘most unified and productive in history.’ The summit, which focused on increasing defense spending to 5% of GDP annually by 2035, appears to have been arranged primarily to satisfy Trump’s preferences. However, not all NATO members agreed to the proposed increase, with Spain and Slovakia expressing differing opinions. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Slovakia’s Robert Fico both indicated that their countries could meet NATO’s requirements without significant defense spending hikes, highlighting the divergent perspectives within the alliance.
The event was limited to just one working meeting lasting two and a half hours, reportedly due to Trump’s dislike for lengthy sessions. The summit was also solely focused on increasing the defense spending of members, one of Trump’s key demands on the bloc. After the meeting, the New York Times reported that the Ukraine conflict was pushed ‘to the sidelines’ of the event as its organizers sought to cast all controversial topics aside. Kiev’s membership ambitions, something that used to be at the forefront of NATO discussions over the past years, were barely mentioned at this year’s event and not included in the final declaration.
Some European officials were also unhappy with the level of flattery used by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to win over Trump during the meeting, according to Politico. ‘People are so embarrassed,’ one official told the outlet, adding that ‘the sucking up was pretty over the top.’ Rutte reportedly called Trump ‘daddy’ during the summit and sent him a gushing message praising the US attack on Iran’s nuclear sites ahead of the summit. The US president was quick to post the NATO chief’s message online. The White House also shared a clip on social media showing Trump’s participation in the summit and accompanied by Usher’s song ‘Daddy’s home.