Trump says he supports NATO mutual defense guarantees
Trump was less than declarative on on his way to the summit when he was asked about his support for Article 5 of the NATO treaty. Asked Wednesday to clarify, Trump said he supports the essential NATO pledge, that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
“I stand with it, that’s why I’m here,” Trump said as he met with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof. “If I didn’t stand with it I wouldn’t be here.”
Trump had told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday that whether he is committed to Article 5 “depends on your definition.” The comment rattled NATO members.
“There’s numerous definitions of Article 5. You know that, right?” Trump said on the plane. “But I’m committed to being their friends.” He also signaled that he would give a more precise definition of what Article 5 means to him once he was at the summit.
Trump keeps lashing out at media over intel assessment
The White House, looking to support Trump’s contention that Iran’s nuclear program was devastated by U.S. airstrikes, distributed a statement from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission.
“We assess that the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran’s military nuclear program, has set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years,” the statement said.
A U.S. intelligence assessment, which leaked on Tuesday, said there was a delay of only a few months.
Trump said media outlets were “disgusting” for reporting on the assessment, describing them as “very unfair to the pilots, who risked their lives for our country.”
NATO leaders agree to hike spending and ‘ironclad’ vow to defend each other if attacked
NATO leaders agreed on Wednesday on a massive hike in defense spending after pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, and expressed their "ironclad commitment" to come to each other's aid if attacked.
The 32 leaders endorsed a final summit statement saying: “Allies commit to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defense requirements as well as defense- and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations.”
Spain had already officially announced that it cannot meet the target, and others have voiced reservations, but the investment pledge includes a review of spending in 2029 to monitor progress and reassess the security threat posed by Russia.
The leaders also underlined their “ironclad commitment” to NATO’s collective security guarantee — “that an attack on one is an attack on all.” Ahead of the summit, Trump had again raised doubts over whether the United States would defend its allies.
Disruption in cellphone networks across the Netherlands
Mobile networks are down across the Netherlands as the country hosts the summit of NATO leaders.
The problem lies with a system of provider Odido, as well as several of its subsidiaries. The company says that its customers are experiencing widespread outages.
Job Holzhauer, a spokesman for the Dutch National Cybersecurity Center, said the agency wasn’t involved and that the primary responsibility for investigating the outage lies with the provider.
He said the cybersecurity center would only get involved if the provider’s investigation confirms a cyberattack.
NATO chief opens summit in his hometown
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has opened the annual summit of the alliance's leaders in his hometown of The Hague.
Rutte, a former longtime Dutch prime minister, opened the meeting of 32 allies at a conference center that has been enveloped in the biggest security operation ever mounted in the Netherlands.
Rutte said the meeting’s central aim is for leaders to endorse a plan to boost military spending to 5% of their gross domestic product by 2035 and more fairly spread the cost of collective defense.
“For too long, one ally, the United States, carried too much of the burden of that commitment and that changes today,” Rutte said.
Leaders who flew in from around Europe and North America are scheduled to talk behind closed doors for about two and a half hours before issuing a brief written statement.
The significant spending boost from the current target of 2% of GDP has been pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who sat next to Rutte at the circular meeting table. But it has faced pushback from Spain, which says it can't afford the new target.
NATO’s Article 5 security guarantee
On the eve of the NATO summit, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters that his commitment to Article 5 “depends on your definition.”
The comment raised questions about Washington’s commitment to defend its allies should they come under attack from outside.
Article 5 is the foundation stone on which the 32-member NATO alliance is built. It states that an armed attack against one or more of the members shall be considered an attack against all members.
It also states that if such an armed attack occurs, each member would take, individually and in concert with others, “such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.’’
Trump says he’ll meet with Zelenskyy
U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed that he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
“We’ll discuss the obvious,” Trump said. “We’ll discuss his difficulties.”
Trump added of Zelenskyy: “Nice guy.”
The two leaders were supposed to meet at the Group of Seven summit in Canada earlier this month, but Trump departed for Washington early to deal with the Middle East conflict.
Hungary’s leader says Russia not ‘a real threat’
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán doesn’t believe, as other European countries do, that Russia could carry out an attack on NATO territory by the end of the decade.
“I think Russia is not strong enough to represent a real threat to us. We are far stronger,” said Orbán, fielding questions from reporters, leaning back with his hands thrust into his pockets.
Orbán is considered Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest ally in Europe.
German leader confident about spending boost
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says he’s confident NATO members will decide on a drastic increase in defense spending “not to do anyone a favor,” but because they are convinced that the threat level has changed.
Merz said as he arrived at the NATO summit that he believes the decision to raise the alliance’s spending target to a cumulative 5% of gross domestic product will be made “in great harmony.”
He said that allies agree that “the threat situation has changed, and the threat is Russia in particular.”
Merz added: “I want to say expressly that we are making the decisions we are making not to do anyone a favor, but we are making these decisions out of … our own conviction that NATO as a whole, and this regards the European part of NATO above all, must do more in the coming years to secure its own defense capability.”
Trump has breakfast with the king and queen
President Donald Trump began his first — and only — full day at the NATO summit with a breakfast courtesy of the Dutch king and queen.
Trump had stayed overnight at the Huis Ten Bosch palace at the invitation of Dutch King Willem-Alexander.
Only a still photographer was allowed to witness the meal on behalf of the White House press corps.
“The day begins in the beautiful Netherlands,” Trump posted on his social media account later Wednesday morning. “The King and Queen are beautiful and spectacular people. Our breakfast meeting was great! Now it’s off to the very important NATO Meetings. The USA will be very well represented!”
‘Birth of a new NATO’
Those are the words of Finland’s president about the 5% spending goal.
While Spain says it can’t commit to that increase, other countries closer to the borders of Russia and Ukraine say they can.
“This is a big win, I think, for both President Trump and I think it’s also a big win for Europe,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb told reporters. “We’re witnessing the birth of a new NATO, which means a more balanced NATO.”
More missiles for Ukraine
Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the U.K. will provide 350 air defense missiles to Ukraine, funded by 70 million pounds ($95 million) raised from the interest on seized Russian assets.
The announcement came as the U.K., along with other NATO members, pledges to increase spending on security to 5% of gross domestic product by 2035. The total includes 3.5% on defense and another 1.5% on broader security and resilience.
UK boosting its nuclear arsenal
Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the U.K. will buy 12 U.S.-made F35 fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons and join NATO’s shared airborne nuclear mission.
The government says it is “the biggest strengthening of the U.K.’s nuclear posture in a generation.”
The U.K. phased out air-dropped atomic weapons after the end of the Cold War, so all of its atomic weapons are submarine-based missiles.
The use of nuclear weapons by the U.K. as part of the mission would require the authorization of the alliance’s nuclear planning group as well as the U.S. president and British prime minister.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte welcomed the announcement, saying it was “yet another robust British contribution to NATO.”
NATO chief upbeat before summit
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says he’s looking forward to what he describes as a “transformational” summit of NATO leaders as they seek to agree on a huge hike in defense spending.
U.S. President Donald Trump was arriving at the summit later Wednesday after raising questions a day earlier about his commitment to NATO's cornerstone mutual defense guarantee.
Trump spent the night at a royal palace in The Hague as a guest of Dutch King Willem-Alexander.
Spurred by Trump’s demands that NATO allies share the burden of defense spending more fairly, leaders are set to pledge to spend 5% of their economic output on defense by 2035, although Spain has said it will not meet that target.
Trump insisted Tuesday that “there’s a problem with Spain. Spain is not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them, frankly.”
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