NATO chief credits Trump for surge in defence spending across alliance

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte credited US President Donald Trump for driving a significant increase in allied defenCe spending, saying he is “extremely optimistic” about the future of the alliance due to Trump’s leadership.

“We clearly see that the Europeans have heard the American president and are responding when it comes to the more fundamental question of NATO's future. I'm extremely optimistic, and I'm extremely optimistic because of President Trump,” Rutte said during a joint press conference with Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić in Podgorica, Anadolu Agency reports.

Rutte said all NATO allies are now meeting the alliance’s 2% defence spending benchmark, including larger economies such as Canada, Spain, Belgium and Italy, which had previously fallen short.

“And I think the re-election of President Trump played a large role here,” he said.

He also pointed to NATO’s decision at the Hague summit to move toward spending 5% of GDP on defence, including 3.5% allocated to core military expenditure.

“This is something that President Trump has been pushing for for many years, and he has been successful now, at the beginning of his second term, to get this done,” Rutte said.

He added that the increase in defence spending is necessary not only to rebalance contributions within the alliance but also to address growing security threats posed by Russia.

By Vafa Guliyeva