Donald Trump dominated extraordinary NATO summit that saw European defence spending increased

Australia Broadcast Center

5 hours ago

Donald Trump was given a royal welcome by the King of the Netherlands as he arrived at the NATO summit in the Hague.
He left feeling like a king maker.
Member nations agreed to lift their defence spending to five per cent of GDP over 10 years and Mr Trump was quick to take credit, describing it as a "big win" for the United States.
He'd been calling for more spending and had made threats around the future of the alliance if it wasn't agreed upon.
"They said, 'you did it sir, you did it sir' — well, I don't know if I did it, but I think I did," Mr Trump said.
When the commitment was finalised to by members in an official summit declaration, NATO members proclaimed the summit a huge success.
But the event, which aims to hear from delegations of the 32 NATO countries and many more partners and allies, seemed to revolve around the presence one man.
Mr Trump's first official engagement at the NATO summit HQ was with Secretary General, Mark Rutte.
The president arrived at the meeting with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and State Department boss, Marco Rubio where the meeting began with Mr Rutte lauding America's actions in Iran.
"The great thing is you took out the nuclear capability of Iran. This was crucial. You did it in a way which is extremely impressive. But the signal it sends to the rest of the world that this president, when it comes to it, yes, he is a man of peace, but if necessary, he is willing to use strength," Mr Rutte said.
When the American delegation was probed by press on the validity of the White House's claims that Iran's nuclear capabilities had been comprehensively demolished, they pushed back.
Mr Hegseth accused sceptics of being "politically motivated", saying the damage was, in fact, "severe".
Mr Rubio declared that the damage to the enrichment facilities was so bad "you can't even find it on the map … it's totally wiped out".
Not to be outdone, Mr Trump then provided the most vivid description of operation Midnight Hammer's success, comparing the raid to the most destructive bombing in history.
Mr Rutte watched on in silence.
The NATO secretary general has been quite transparent in his attempts to flatter the president.
Mr Trump seemed so taken by the gushing display of admiration by Mr Rutte that he leaked a text message reportedly sent to him by the alliance boss.
"Mr. President, dear Donald, Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran, that was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do. It makes us all safer," Mr Rutte reportedly wrote in the message.
Mr Rutte said at the summit that he's not embarrassed by the message, and he was actually happy for it to be made public.
"There's nothing in it that had to stay secret," he said.
At Mr Rutte's meeting with Donald Trump, he was asked about what he thought about the commander-in-chief's use of the F-Word when describing Israel and Iran.
Mr Trump said that the two country's "had a big fight, like two kids in a schoolyard".
Mr Rutte's response was light-hearted but telling.
While the NATO Secretary General and the president seem to be the best of pals, the attention of the summit was also focused on the testy relationship between Donald Trump and Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The meeting between the pair on the sidelines of the summit, was the headline act of the second day of the event.
Although their previous meeting at the Vatican seemed cordial, their sit down in the Oval Office still looms large over the pair's relationship.
Dressed in formal attire, Mr Zelenskyy met with Mr Trump for about 50 minutes and told media afterwards that "it went well".
Mr Trump also seemed happy with the bi-lateral meeting, speaking to the media about it before leaving The Hague.
"It was a great meeting. I think it's a great time to end the war he said," he said.
It's unclear when they'll next meet.
But Mr Zelenskyy is still urging Europe and the United States to provide more assistance to Ukraine.
Australia's representative at the summit, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, announced that the government would be upping its support to Kyiv.
That support will include deploying a Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail aircraft to Europe in August, following a request from NATO and Poland.
Under Operation Kudu, up to 100 Australian Defence Force personnel will deploy alongside the aircraft, which is set to help protect an international gateway of humanitarian aid into Ukraine.
Mr Marles also said Australia will impose another round of sanctions on Russia on 37 individuals, along with targeted financial sanctions on seven entities.
He said he would continue to look at other measures of support and discussed as much in a meeting with Ukraine's Defence Minister, Rustem Umerov.
The deputy prime minister met with several other counterparts, but the Americans weren't among them.
Initially, Donald Trump was listed to meet with NATO's Indo-Pacific partners, which includes Australia, but he withdrew from the event the night before.
Mr Marles also confirmed he didn't meet with Pete Hegseth.
Last week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was snubbed by Donald Trump at the G7 event in Canada, with the president leaving the event early.
Mr Marles said he wasn't disappointed that the Australians were once again left off the Americans itinerary.
"What I've discovered with our relationship with the United States is that I have as much engagement with the US secretary of defence as I do with counterparts around the world so there will be many opportunities to meet in the future," Mr Marles said.