Donald Trump is “completely committed” to NATO but has one “expectation”, the defence alliance’s Secretary General has revealed. At a summit in Ankara, Mark Rutte was asked if he considered Trump a committed member of NATO and whether he takes the US president’s threat to pull US troops out of Europe and take hold of Greenland seriously.
He told Sky News: “He is completely committed.There is complete commitment of the United States to NATO, but there was one and still to a certain extent is one expectation.” It come as NATO leaders are meeting in Turkiye’s capital, Ankara, for the second day of a key summit.
He continued: “So the commitment is there, no doubt, also because NATO is there in the US interest to prevent, for example, the nuclear submarines of Russia to end up on the shores of the United States.
“The US, to stay safe, needs a secure Atlantic, Europe and Arctic. So there is complete commitment to NATO.”
However, he said that the “expectation was and is that the Europeans and the Canadians will equalise their spending with the United States”.
He added: “Now, the good news is, and this is the big win today – it’s a loss for Putin, it is a win for President Trump – that the Europeans and the Canadians are doing exactly that.”
Meanwhile, during the visit, Mr Trump criticised NATO allies and singled out European countries that he perceives as unsupportive during the US-Israel war on Iran.
Upon arriving in Turkey’s capital on Tuesday, Trump criticized allied nations for what he viewed as their lack of support for the United States during the Iran conflict.
He also remarked that he might have skipped the meeting altogether if not for his close relationship with the host, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on NATO allies to strengthen support for Ukraine’s air defence systems following a deadly intensification of Russian attacks on Kyiv.
Speaking in Ankara, he said Ukraine had signed new agreements with Estonia, the Netherlands, and Denmark aimed at enhancing military cooperation. Meanwhile, five NATO member states are expected to meet the alliance’s target of allocating 3.5 percent of their gross domestic product to core defence spending as early as 2026.
