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U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed his commitment to NATO’s Article 5 during the Alliance’s summit in The Hague, describing the member states’ pledge to allocate 5% of their GDP to defense as “big news.”
Trump made the comments during a press interaction on Wednesday, as cited by The Guardian.
Responding to a question about the U.S. commitment to Article 5, he said, “We’re with them [the member states] to the end.”
Article 5 is the cornerstone of NATO, established during the Cold War to protect Western Europe from the Soviet Union. It has remained the foundation of the U.S.-led alliance ever since.
Trump also acknowledged the efforts of NATO countries to boost their defense spending:
“I’ve been asking them to raise it to 5% for years, and now they’re raising it to 5%. That’s a big jump from 2%, and many weren’t even meeting that. So I think this is really big news,” he said.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, sitting next to Trump, remarked, “This wouldn’t have happened without Donald Trump.”
“With this 5% target, Europeans and Canadians will match U.S. defense spending. This isn’t about American taxpayers paying more — it’s about Europeans and Canadians stepping up. Again, this wouldn’t have happened without Trump,” Rutte emphasized.
However, ahead of the summit, Trump had once again cast doubt on the U.S. commitment to Article 5, suggesting there is no single, clear interpretation of the collective defense clause.
In response, NATO Secretary General Rutte urged observers to judge the United States by its actions and actual contributions to shared defense, rather than by political rhetoric — even when such rhetoric causes concern.
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