When President Donald Trump first entered office in 2017, he proposed a radical idea: NATO members should be held accountable to the alliance and pay the two percent in defense spending they agreed to.
"The NATO of the future must include a great focus on terrorism and immigration, as well as threats from Russia and on NATO’s eastern and southern borders. These grave security concerns are the same reason that I have been very, very direct with Secretary Stoltenberg and members of the Alliance in saying that NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations, for 23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they’re supposed to be paying for their defense," Trump said during a speech at NATO in 2017.
"This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States. And many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years and not paying in those past years. Over the last eight years, the United States spent more on defense than all other NATO countries combined," he continued. "We should recognize that with these chronic underpayments and growing threats, even 2 percent of GDP is insufficient to close the gaps in modernizing, readiness, and the size of forces. We have to make up for the many years lost. Two percent is the bare minimum for confronting today’s very real and very vicious threats."
The demand was met with breathless pearl-clutching from the media. Many European leaders panicked about how they would reprioritize their budgets, heavily bogged down by social programs, to meet the demand. Trump was accused of trying to destroy the alliance, when in reality, he was giving America’s allies across the Atlantic some much-needed tough love and constructive criticism.
Now it’s 2025, Trump is back, and after just five months in office, has secured a five percent defense spending commitment from 32 of 33 NATO partners.
“A major focus of our conversations at the summit was the need for other NATO members to take up the burden of the defense of Europe. And that included the financial burden. As you know, it was at two percent. And we got it up to five percent,” Trump said at NATO 2025. “And all of this is going to be done very quickly. Almost immediately. You probably know this as well as I do. I'm sure they've been talking about it. It's really been a big focus and a very historic milestone. This week, the NATO allies committed to dramatically increase their defense spending to that five percent of GDP, something that no one really thought possible.”
"It's vital that this additional money be spent on very serious military hardware, not bureaucracy,” he continued.
For years, Trump warned Europe wasn’t taking the threat of Russia seriously. After Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, which has been relentless, they seem to have woken up.
“We’re witnessing the birth of a new NATO,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said as a new member of the alliance. “This is a big win, I think, for both President Trump and I think it’s also a big win for Europe.”
Ahead of the summit, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised Trump’s leadership and credited him with building a stronger alliance.
“Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe, and the world. You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done,” Rutte said. "Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win."
Trump was falsely accused of wanting to end the NATO alliance – a smear. All along, he was trying to save it. Now, he’s made them willing to save themselves.
“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. They want to protect their country, and they need the United States,” Trump said at NATO 2025. “It's not a rip off and we're here to help them protect their country.”