Washington (AFP) – It will go down as the summit where US President Donald Trump learned to stop worrying and love NATO. Trump reveled in gushing praise from leaders in The Hague — including being called “daddy” by alliance chief Mark Rutte — and a pledge to boost defense spending as he had demanded. But it went further than just lapping up flattery.
Trump also spoke of what sounded like an almost religious conversion to NATO, after years of bashing other members as freeloaders and threatening to leave. “I came here because it was something I’m supposed to be doing, but I left here a little bit differently,” Trump said at his closing press conference on Wednesday. “I watched the heads of these countries get up, and the love and the passion that they showed for their country was unbelievable. I’ve never seen quite anything like it. It was really moving to see it.”
A day after returning to the White House, Trump still sounded uncharacteristically touchy-feely about his time with his 31 NATO counterparts. “A wonderful day with incredible and caring Leaders,” he posted on his Truth Social platform on Thursday.
– Turnaround –
It was a remarkable turnaround from the US president’s first term. Trump repeatedly berated allies as not paying up and threatened to pull the United States out of NATO as part of his wider disdain for international institutions and alliances. At his first summit in 2017 in Brussels, Trump memorably shoved aside Montenegro’s prime minister Dusko Markovic as he made his way to the front of the stage. A year later, Trump publicly lambasted Germany and privately talked about wanting to quit.
But this time NATO leaders had carefully choreographed the trip. They massaged the numbers to give Trump the defense spending deal he craved. And while Trump headed to the summit dropping F-bombs in frustration at a shaky Iran-Israel ceasefire, NATO leaders love-bombed him from the moment he arrived. The Netherlands put him up overnight in the Dutch king’s royal palace and gave him a royal dinner and breakfast — “beautiful,” according to Trump — while NATO organizers kept the summit deliberately short.
Frederick Kempe, the chief executive officer of the Atlantic Council, said Trump had “waxed poetic” about NATO in a way he had never done before. “Trump — the vilifier of European deadbeats on defense and crusader against allies for what he sees as unfair trade practices — sounded like an altered man,” he said in a commentary.
– ‘Daddy’s Home’ –
The question now is what it means for NATO when the alliance’s priorities end up guided by one man. The final summit statement’s language on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was watered down from previous years. It also made no mention of Ukraine’s push to join NATO. Reporters were not allowed into Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The move was partly because of their Oval Office bust-up in February, but it also deprived Zelensky of the set-piece he had craved.
“The biggest loser was Ukraine,” said Ed Arnold of the Royal United Services Institute in London. Trump also hinted at what lies in store for any backsliders on the defense spending pledge, threatening to make Spain “pay” on trade over its resistance to commit to the new target.
As with any relationship, the pressure will now be on NATO to keep up the first flush of love over the three summits that are due to take place over the rest of Trump’s second term. “The real worry is that NATO will be unable to keep up the hype,” said Arnold. For now, though, Trump and his administration seem to be content. As he arrived back in Washington, the White House posted a video of summit highlights, with the caption: “Daddy’s Home.”
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