NATO's Article 5 depends on how you define it
US President Donald Trump has refused to publicly affirm that he would unconditionally defend America's allies under NATO. He made the remarks on Tuesday en route to the NATO summit in The Hague.
Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, NATO members must treat an attack against one of them as an attack against them all.
Asked by a reporter if he was committed to Article 5, Trump replied, 'Depends on your definition.'
'There are numerous definitions of Article 5. You know that, right? But I'm committed to being their friend. You know, I've become friends with many of those leaders,' he added.
When asked to clarify his position aboard Air Force One, the president said, 'I'm committed to saving lives. I'm committed to life and safety. And I'm going to give you an exact definition when I get there.'
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, for his part, told reporters that he has 'no doubt that the US is totally committed to NATO, totally committed to Article 5.' Rutte recently sent a glowing letter to Trump, praising his 'decisive action in Iran' and promising 'another big success' at the summit in The Hague.
Trump, who has at times spoken disparagingly about the alliance, has long urged members to boost their defense spending. He broke ranks earlier this year by reviving direct talks with Russia and refusing to offer the kind of unconditional support for Ukraine that it enjoyed under his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
The change in US policy prompted European NATO members to consider moving away from reliance on Washington for their defense. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said this week that Europe can't afford to 'free ride' on US security any longer. In April, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that Europe must acknowledge it will not be 'a geopolitical priority' for the US in the coming years.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
an hour ago
- Russia Today
NATO members' leaders snubbing Zelensky at key summit
Several NATO members, including the US, are deliberately avoiding meeting with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky at the bloc's key summit in The Hague, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed. Speaking prior to the gathering on Wednesday, Orban noted that Zelensky would only attend the informal dinner and 'will not participate in the NATO summit in any official form,' indicating that 'a clear sign that the previous chapter is over.' The Hungarian prime minister went on to explain that this is a drastic change compared to previous years, stating that 'the Americans, the Turks, the Slovaks, and we have made it clear that we do not want to sit at the same table with Zelensky when it comes to NATO.' He further stressed Hungary's continued opposition to Ukraine joining NATO or the EU. Orban has repeatedly warned that Kiev's membership in any of the blocs would drag the West into a direct conflict with Russia. Meanwhile, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto noted that the 2025 summit would be the first since 2022 where the focus would be not on stepping up support for Ukraine, but on strengthening the bloc's collective defense. 'With Ukraine's NATO membership off the agenda, direct confrontation with Russia has been avoided. Rationality has prevailed,' he added. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump confirmed that he would 'probably' meet with Zelensky on the sidelines of the summit. At the same time, he described the Ukrainian leader as being in a 'tough situation,' adding that he 'should have never been there.' In another sign of the simmering tensions between Zelensky and Trump, the Washington Post reported that NATO leaders are 'tiptoeing around rifts' during the summit, trying to showcase 'a veneer of unity'. The paper reported that 'NATO officials are trying to keep [Trump and Zelensky] apart as much as possible in public — a recognition of Trump's occasionally volcanic disdain for the Ukrainian leader.' In this vein, NATO organizers positioned Zelensky far from Trump during the official summit photo-op, according to footage broadcast by C-SPAN.
Russia Today
2 hours ago
- Russia Today
Russian electricity supplies to China fall 44%
Moscow's supply of electricity to China saw a major year-over-year drop in the first half of 2025, according to the state-run power exporting company Inter RAO. The decline has been attributed to internal supply restrictions rolled out in response to growing demand in Russia's Far East. Russia is a key electricity supplier to China, the world's number one power consumer. In 2024, the East Asian nation accounted for a third of global power demand, according to global energy think tank Ember Energy. Electricity exports to China have dropped 44% in the first half of the year, Inter RAO CEO Sergey Drevgal told Vedomosti. He also noted that Russia's total electricity exports fell by 17.6% in 2024 to 8.53 billion kilowatt-hours. Speaking with journalists at a briefing during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), the company's head highlighted that the major decrease in supplies to the neighboring country had been caused by export restrictions prompted by soaring electricity demand in the Russian Far East and a shortage of hydro resources in eastern hydroelectric reservoirs. 'Given the ongoing restrictions, we are forced to forecast that electricity supplies to China this year will fall below the 2024 level,' Drevgal said. Last year, Russia's power supplies to China amounted to 0.9 billion kilowatt-hours, marking a major decrease compared to the 3.1 billion kilowatt-hours recorded in 2023. Drevgal added that electricity exports to Kazakhstan (the biggest importer of electricity from Russia) and Mongolia are expected to remain high in 2025. The CEO also said that the volume of electricity exported to Kyrgyzstan will directly depend on the transmission capacity of the power grid in neighboring Kazakhstan. He refrained from forecasting the overall volume of electricity exports, saying that the final outcome will depend on a number of factors, including electricity consumption trends in Russia and abroad, price dynamics in domestic and foreign power markets, exchange rates, and other variables.
Russia Today
2 hours ago
- Russia Today
Peace dialogue with Kiev on hold
Moscow and Kiev are currently working to fully implement the humanitarian portion of their previous agreements, and therefore no negotiations are currently underway on their respective peace roadmaps, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Speaking at a regular press briefing on Wednesday, Peskov noted that the exact date of the next round of talks with Kiev would be decided after all previous pledges are fulfilled, referring to prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of slain soldiers. Russia and Ukraine held direct talks in Türkiye last month, resuming a diplomatic process that was paused by Kiev in 2022 after it chose to seek a battlefield victory with Western assistance. DETAILS TO FOLLOW
