Key Points – At the NATO summit in The Hague, US President Donald Trump appeared to reverse his long-standing criticism of the alliance, reaffirming his commitment to Article 5 after securing a major new defense spending pledge from allies.
-For years, Trump has castigated NATO members for not “pulling their weight,” but at this week’s summit, the alliance agreed to a new target of spending 5% of GDP on defense and security-related matters by 2035.
-Trump hailed the agreement as a “monumental win,” telling reporters he was leaving the summit feeling differently about the alliance, stating “It’s not a rip-off.”
Trump Has a Big Change of Heart on NATO
One of the implied reasons, during the Biden Administration, that the West provided such strong support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia was that Vladimir Putin wouldn’t stop at Ukraine, and might try to invade more of Europe.
This has not happened in the first three years of the war, but the leaders of NATO still have that possibility at least in the back of their minds, as indicated by this week’s NATO summit in the Netherlands.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but most of the countries that surround it are, and an attack on any of those countries would trigger the North Atlantic Treaty’s Article 5, which would oblige all other NATO members to defend it. Article 5 was never invoked for the entirety of the Cold War, but was, for the first time, after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
So an attack by Russia on any NATO member would likely trigger a major war.
According to a Bloomberg News analysis, a war between Putin and NATO would “cost the world” $1.5 trillion.
“A war on NATO territory remains unlikely — not least because Russia doesn’t, for now, have the capacity and probably would not want a war on two fronts,” Bloomberg reported. “But some Russian generals and senior officials have said publicly that their imperial ambitions don’t end with Ukraine, and Putin himself laid claim to at least the whole of Ukraine last week.”
Bloomberg added that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, former Soviet Republics on the border, who have been NATO members since 2004, would serve as “the most likely flashpoint.”
A Spending Pledge
According to an Associated Press wrap-up of the recently concluded NATO meeting, it was “far chummier” than most such meetings that took place in Trump’s first term. Trump has often been critical of NATO, accusing the member nations of not pulling their weight, and even threatening to pull the U.S. out of the organization.
However, a U.S. law passed in 2023 makes it impossible for a president to exit NATO unilaterally, and this year, the NATO member states agreed to up their defense spending, a longtime Trump goal.
“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,” NATO said in a statement issued from the summit.
In addition, per the AP, “the focus on Ukraine was scaled back dramatically, with its invasion by Russia earning only a passing mention in the summit’s official statement.”
Trump Speaks
And while President Donald Trump, in a pre-summit interview, had indicated that he wasn’t sure he believed in Article 5, the president declared at the summit, “I stand with it. That’s why I’m here… If I didn’t stand with it, I wouldn’t be here.”
In a press conference at the summit, Trump stated that “It’s possible” Vladimir Putin could invade more of Europe. “I consider him a person who I think is misguided,” Trump added, per The Independent.
The president added that Putin had called him recently, offering to “help you with Iran,” at which point Trump said he retorted, “No, you can help me with Russia.”
“They want to protect their country, and they need the United States, and without the United States, it’s not going to be the same,” Trump said of the NATO allies. “I left here differently. I — I left here saying, ‘These people really love their countries. It’s not a rip-off.’ And we are here to help them protect their country.”
At the summit, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And when asked if he would provide Ukraine with Patriot missiles, he answered, “We’re going to see if we can make some available.”
About the Author:
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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