President Donald Trump has tried to reassure NATO allies over the commitment of the United States to the alliance, after previously suggesting that the military alliance’s collective defence principle was open to interpretation.
Trump arrived in The Hague on Wednesday to meet 31 other NATO leaders at a summit focused on plans to boost defence spending to shore up the US commitment to the alliance.
Asked by reporters about his commitment to NATO’s Article 5, which holds that an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all, he said: “We’re with them all the way.”
Sitting alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte before the summit, Trump said the expected agreement for allies to increase defence spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) would be a “great victory for everybody”.
The comments came after Trump stoked doubts over his commitment to the alliance when asked whether Washington would abide by NATO’s mutual defence guarantees.
“Depends on your definition,” Trump told reporters on his way to The Hague. “There’s numerous definitions of Article 5. You know that, right? But I’m committed to being their friends.”
Rutte had earlier stressed that Washington was “totally committed to the alliance”.
“There is absolute clarity that the United States is totally committed to NATO, totally committed to Article 5,” he said, referring to the cornerstone collective defence principle enshrined in NATO’s
