US President Donald Trump has stated that he supports NATO's mutual defense guarantees, UNN writes, citing AP.
Details
Trump, the publication notes, "was less than declarative" on the way to the summit when asked about his support for Article 5 of the NATO treaty. When asked to clarify the situation on Wednesday, Trump said he supports NATO's core commitment that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
"I support that, that's why I'm here," Trump said at a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof. "If I didn't support it, I wouldn't be here."
Context
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday that his commitment to Article 5 "depends on your definition." This comment confused NATO members.
"There are many definitions of Article 5. You know that, right?" Trump said on the plane. "But I'm determined to be their friend." He also made it clear that he would give a more precise definition of what Article 5 means to him when he is at the summit.
What the NATO Secretary General says
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, commenting on Trump's comments regarding Article 5, as The Guardian writes, said: "There are many definitions of Article 5," following the summit, stated: "Well, you know, Article 5 is absolutely clear. And at the same time, we have always said that we will never go into details about when Article 5 will be invoked. And why not? Because we don't want to make our adversaries wiser."
He was then asked again about Trump, and he said: "I've known him for almost 10 years. He's a good friend. I trust him." "He was absolutely right that Europe and Canada are essentially not providing NATO with what we should be providing, and that the US is spending much more on defense than the Europeans and Canadians. We are now fixing that," Rutte noted.
Rutte stated that the agreed goals show that "allies are aware of the seriousness of the threats we face, and in response they have united to agree on an ambitious but important new commitment to defense spending."
He further stated: "President Trump has made it clear that America is committed to NATO. He reaffirmed this today unequivocally." "At the same time, he made it clear that America expects a greater contribution from European allies and Canada, and that is what we are seeing them do," Rutte pointed out.
"We are now moving from agreeing on what we need to rolling up our sleeves and turning this new plan into reality, and part of that requires us to rapidly expand our defense industrial capacity on both sides of the Atlantic," the NATO Secretary General emphasized.