Trump returns to the top of NATO while the alliance is faced with the threat of Russia, spending decisions
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The NATO summit will be held in The Hague in the Netherlands from June 24 to 25 and a range of defensive questions should be addressed, in particular by expanding national spending commitments, aid to Ukraine, emerging threats from Iran and relations with the United States under President Donald Trump.
It will be the president’s first transatlantic summit since his return to the White House in January, and all eyes are on Trump, who has not moved away from the explosive moments with the American allies, including during the previous NATO summits.
After the United States’s attack on Saturday’s attack on Iranian nuclear installations, the Islamic Republic of Iran should become one of the main problems.
Here is what is on the agenda:
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President Donald Trump speaks to the press after a meeting of the White House with the secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte in Washington, DC, on Thursday March 13, 2025. (Pool via AP)
In a statement published a week before the summit, NATO said that “heads of state and government should accept (for) a new defense investment plan” after months of speculation that the Alliance could increase its expenses of 2% of a nation’s GDP.
This notion was first pushed by Trump after winning the elections, and despite the shock of the stickers of what it could mean not only for the eight nations which do not yet affect the 2%commitment, but also the United States which currently spends 3.38%, many European leaders have started.
Fox News Digital has not been able to confirm whether NATO will increase its commitment to 5%, and some sources knowing discussions have suggested that this figure could be closer to 3.5% over a period of up to 10 years. Friday, it was announced that Spain had been rejected to pay 5%, but it will pay 2.1%, according to a report by the Associated Press.
“The actual objective will be the new objective of defense spending,” Fox News Digital Peter Rough, main member and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia, with the Hudson Institute. “5% of the gross domestic product as a high -end number – however, only 3.5% must be devoted to the hard defense.
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The Ukrainian navies train in urban war techniques in bilateral military exercises between the United States and Ukraine, and include troops from various NATO and nonsta countries on September 16, 2014, near Yavorov, Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said kyiv’s interest in NATO was a main reason for his invasion. (Photo of Sean Gallup / Getty Images)
“And 1.5% can count for adjacent categories, such as cybersecurity or infrastructure for military mobility,” he explained before his testimony to the Senate Committee for Foreign Relations concerning the NATO summit.
NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, was an ardent supporter of the increase in defense spending, especially since Europe continues to face its greatest threat since the Second World War.
Earlier this month, before a NATO ministerial meeting which served as an appointment to the NATO summit, Rutte said that leaders “will strengthen our deterrence and defense by accepting ambitious objectives of new capacities”.
He detailed the anti -missile defense, long -term strike capacities and deterrence as the main priorities, which intervenes not only when Russia continues its aggressive war in Ukraine, but as threats taken by an ambitious nuclear Iran is also intensifying.
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The president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a press conference in kyiv, Ukraine, on May 13, 2025. (Ukrinform / Nurphoto via Getty Images)
The question of the defense of Ukraine should once again be an article on the agenda and was an engine of the motivation of the NATO alliance to considerably increase spending, which the nations under the alliance first did after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 by Russia.
However, given Trump’s constant pressure for an increase in defensive NATO expenses, its threats to withdraw the troops from Europe and its insistence so that Kyiv is not authorized to join the 32 -members alliance, the defense of Ukraine may not play a leading role this year.
“There will not be as much concentration on Ukraine as during the last summits,” said Rough. “The White House focuses on the laser on defense investment engagement, and none of the other allies wants to shake the boat.”
While nations like France, the United Kingdom and Germany have taken more direct management positions and ardently promised their continuous support for Ukraine, they also made the line when it comes to managing transatlantic relations with Washington under Trump.
“I expect a short statement from the concise summit with a mention of Ukraine, but none of the ornate languages that characterized the press releases,” added Rough.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to attend games of the summit, such as the opening dinner, although he is not yet confirmed to attend official NATO meetings.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, bottom of the center, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the second right below right and other world leaders attend a defensive summit in Lancaster House in London on Sunday March 2, 2025. (Neil Hall / EPA / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The reports suggested that Trump could contest the fact of having Zelenskyy at a NATO event in the midst of the ceasefire negotiations apparently blocked with Russia-which began to take a rear seat in the middle of the conflicts between Israel and Iran.
Trump did not retain the previous NATO heights with regard to the conflict on RussiaIncluding in 2018, when he openly faced the Chancellor of the time, Angela Merkel, when he accused Berlin of being “totally controlled by Russia” and said it was a “bad thing for NATO”.
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With the American launch Hammer operation at midnight Against three of the Iranian nuclear installations in Fordwow, Natanz and Isfahan on Saturday, Iran should be one of the main subjects of NATO members’ discussions as tensions with the diet in Tehran.
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In addition, Russia continues to constitute the greatest threat to Europe, not only when its war ambitions continue in Ukraine, but as intelligence agencies are more and more warned that “the post-war objective of Russia will be on NATO”.
Rough, in his testimony from the Senate, underlined the conclusions of the Federal Intelligence Agency of Germany which declared earlier this month that “we see that the collective promise of the defense of NATO must be tested … We are very safe, and we have proof of intelligence to support this, that Ukraine is only a step on the Way of Russia”.
Danish intelligence has issued similar warnings earlier this year and said that if it found the right opportunity, Russia could launch hostile operations against a neighboring nation within six months of regrouping after a cease-fire in Ukraine.
Rutte underlined the severity of the direct threat that Russia poses and declared earlier this month during a trip to the United Kingdom than if the nations do not take seriously the need to invest in the 5%defense expenditure, then “you would better learn to speak Russian”.
The alliances that Moscow cemented during his war in Ukraine also brought a very real threat to the West in the foreground while China, North Korea and Iran have all played a major role in the food of the Russian war machine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of North Korea Kim Jong Une, on the left, meet for a welcome ceremony on Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, June 19. (Korean Central News Agency / Korea of news via AP)
Because Putin, “United States is the main enemy,” said the Minister of Estonian Affairs
China, as it claims neutrality during the war, firmly provided Russia with electronic components essential to modern war. Iran has provided drones and technical know-how, while North Korea has not only provided military ammunition and equipment, but boots on the war for war.
While China and Russia have repeatedly committed their partnership as a United against the West, North Korea has become increasingly embraced and has been supplied technical for the development of missiles in exchange for its support, which represents an important threat not only for the eastern partners, but Western interests.
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Rough has warned that “Russian President Vladimir Putin remains implacally opposed to the American-European partnership, which he seeks to undermine on every occasion”.
In addition, American military officials in Europe have declared rough, said that it would be a mistake to withdraw American troops in Europe in the midst of these increasingly united threats against the West.
The troop agreements, collective defense and the participation of the United States in the deterrent of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran should all be a major discussion.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
