Trump gets NATO to pony up after detractors said he would tank alliance

NATO members agreed to raise their defense spending from 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 5% by 2035 following pressure from President Donald Trump, vindicating the president against critics who warned his tough stance would undermine the alliance.

The commitment between the 32 member countries was reached on Wednesday during a summit in the Netherlands. Trump lauded the increase as a “big win for the U.S., Europe, and Western civilization,” rebutting years of warnings from Democrats and foreign policy elites who claimed that demanding more substantial contributions from allies would shatter the pact.

In a statement issued by the NATO heads of state, the leaders reaffirmed their “ironclad commitment to collective defense,” as outlined in Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

Trump has long criticized NATO members for failing to meet their obligations to spend at least 2% of their GDP, while the U.S. continues to shoulder billions in European defense costs. In 2024, Croatia, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Spain fell below the 2% threshold, according to the Atlantic Council.

This concern has come into sharp focus amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. Since 2022, the U.S. has contributed $184.4 billion in direct defense spending and humanitarian assistance, while European nations have collectively spent $266 billion as of December 2024.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters that Trump emphasized America’s commitment to the alliance but expects European allies and Canada to step up their contributions. “And that is exactly what we see them doing,” Rutte remarked.

Rutte credited the agreement reached at the summit to Trump’s influence, as reflected in private messages the president shared on Truth Social.

“Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe, and the world. You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done,” Rutte said in the message. “Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win.

Spain, however, has already declared that it will not meet the target, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez describing it as “incompatible with our worldview.” The statement drew sharp criticism from Trump, who indicated that Spain’s stance could impact ongoing trade negotiations between the two nations.

“They want to stay at 2%. I think it’s terrible,” Trump said. “You know, what we’re going to do? We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal. We’re going to make them pay twice as much.”

The increased defense spending commitment defies years of predictions from Trump’s critics, who insisted his pressure campaign would fracture NATO.

“In a second Trump term, we’d almost certainly withdraw from NATO,” John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, said in 2024.

Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland also warned in 2024 that “everyone should be scared as hell” if Trump returned to the White House.

“Anybody who cares about American leadership, anyone who cares about protecting democracy, anybody who wants to take on authoritarians around the world should be scared to death by the fact that Donald Trump is telling us that if he was reelected president, he would throw our NATO allies to [Vladimir] Putin,” Van Hollen said.

Former President Joe Biden called Trump’s remarks “appalling and dangerous,” while former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that Trump’s language “undermines our security,” after the president criticized European allies on the campaign trail in 2024 for falling short on defense spending commitments while the U.S. poured billions into the war in Ukraine.