Nato's charm wins over 'daddy' Trump: U.S. will stand by its allies, he says… as they pledge extra defence spending
Donald Trump yesterday said he no longer believed Nato is a 'rip-off' and that 'of course' he would help defend Europe if it came under attack.
Leaders breathed a sigh of relief as the US President hailed the military alliance and didn't throw a grenade into its summit – as he has done at previous gatherings.
In what was largely an exercise in taming the leader of Nato's biggest spender, the alliance's boss Mark Rutte even appeared to joke that Mr Trump was 'Daddy'.
There had been growing jitters before the two-day summit after Mr Trump suggested, while travelling to the gathering in The Hague, that he could dismiss Article 5 of the Nato treaty in future.
This states that an attack on one Nato country is an attack on all and that member nations will help defend that ally.
Asked on Air Force One about whether he would abide by Article 5, he said it 'depends on your definition', adding: 'There's numerous definitions of Article 5. You know that, right?'
But yesterday, asked if he stood by the mutual defence clause, he said: 'I stand with it, that's why I'm here. If I didn't stand with it, I wouldn't be here.'
Pressed on whether he would jump to the defence of Nato allies if they came under attack, Mr Trump replied: 'Yeah, of course, why would I be here?'
In a post-summit press conference, he added that he had a new view of Nato after seeing how intent leaders were on defending their countries.
'I left here [feeling] differently,' he said. 'These people really love their countries. It's not a rip-off, and we're here to help them protect their country. They want to protect their country, and they need the United States.'
Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez was the only leader to refuse to agree to a new target of spending 5 per cent of GDP on defence and security by 2035. All of Nato's 31 other leaders signed up to the target, a long-held demand of Mr Trump.
Some still spend less than the current 2 per cent target.
Mr Trump has previously suggested he could quit the alliance because of the vast sums America pours into it compared to other countries.
In February last year, before being elected President for a second time, he even suggested he would 'encourage' Russia to attack any Nato member that fails to pay its way.
Mr Trump reacted angrily to Spain's stance yesterday, saying: 'They want to stay at 2 per cent.
I think it's terrible. We're negotiating with Spain on a trade deal. We're going to make them pay twice as much.'
Earlier yesterday, Mr Trump met with Mr Rutte on the sidelines of the two-day summit, where they discussed the conflict between Israel and Iran in front of the cameras. Mr Trump said: 'They've had a big fight, like two kids in the schoolyard, you know.
'They fight like hell. You can't stop them. Let them fight for about two or three minutes then it's easier to stop them.'
Mr Rutte then joked: 'And then Daddy has to sometimes use strong language'.
This was a reference to Mr Trump on Tuesday saying Israel and Iran 'don't know what the f*** they're doing' when asked about the two nations initially breaking a ceasefire brokered by the US President this week.
However later, Mr Rutte tried to clarify his comments, saying Mr Trump's description of Iran and Israel as two children fighting 'sounds a little bit like a small child asking his daddy, 'hey, are you still staying with the family?'.So, in that sense, I use 'Daddy,' not that I was calling President Trump Daddy,' he told Reuters.
Mr Rutte, known as the 'Trump whisperer' due to his ability to sweet-talk the US premier, denied that his campaign of flattery was 'demeaning'. The Nato secretary-general told a post-summit conference: 'When it comes to making more investments [in defence], would that have been the result of this summit if he would have not been re-elected president?' It came after Mr Rutte also love-bombed the US President in a message which Mr Trump posted on social media.
In the private message the Nato boss congratulated Mr Trump for his 'extraordinary' intervention in bombing Iran. 'You are flying into another big success in The Hague this evening,' it continued, saying other member states had agreed to increase defence spending.
It added: 'You will achieve something NO American President in decades could get done.'
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