Donald Trump celebrates boost in NATO defense funding as a "major triumph"

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NATO leaders have backed an increase in defence spending demanded by US President Donald Trump, and restated their commitment to defend each other from attack after a brief summit in the Netherlands.

Trump told a press conference that “we had a great victory here”, adding that he hoped that the additional funds would be spent on military hardware made in the US.

He threatened to punish Spain after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared it could meet its commitments to NATO while spending much less than the new target of 5 per cent of GDP.

“I think it’s terrible. You know, they (Spain) are doing very well … and that economy could be blown right out of the water when something bad happens,” Trump said, adding that Spain would get a tougher trade deal from the US than other European Union countries.

In a five-point statement, NATO endorsed the higher defence spending goal — a response not only to Trump but also to Europeans’ fears that Russia poses a growing threat to their security following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The 32 allies’ brief communique added: “We reaffirm our ironclad commitment to collective defence as enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty — that an attack on one is an attack on all.”

Asked to clarify his own stance on Article 5 after recent ambiguous comments, Trump said: “I stand with it. That’s why I’m here. If I didn’t stand with it, I wouldn’t be here.”

Trump had long demanded in no uncertain terms that other countries step up their spending to reduce NATO’s heavy reliance on the US

Donald Trump speaking at a podium with NATO signs in the background.

Donald Trump has long pushed for NATO allies to spend more on defence. Source: AAP / ANP/ANP/Sipa USA

Despite an appearance of general agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron raised the issue of the steep import tariffs threatened by Trump, and the damage they may do to transatlantic trade, as a barrier to increased defence spending.

“We can’t say we are going to spend more and then, at the heart of NATO, launch a trade war,” Macron said, calling it “an aberration”. He said he had raised it several times with Trump.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who hosted the summit in his home city of The Hague, said NATO would emerge as a ‘stronger, fairer and more lethal’ alliance.

The former Dutch prime minister said Trump deserved “all the praise” for getting NATO members to agree on raising defence spending.

The new spending target — to be achieved over the next 10 years — is a jump worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year from the current goal of 2 per cent of GDP, although it will be measured differently.

Countries pledged to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on core defence — such as troops and weapons — and 1.5 per cent on broader defence-related measures such as cyber security, protecting pipelines and adapting roads and bridges to handle heavy military vehicles.

The additional spending will be a tall order for European nations, many of which have strained finances.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had to settle for attending the pre-summit dinner on Tuesday evening rather than the main meeting on Wednesday, although he met Trump separately after the conference ended.

The Kremlin has accused NATO of being on a path of rampant militarisation and portraying Russia as a “fiend of hell” in order to justify its big increase in defence spending.