TRUMP REDEFINES NATO: Demanding Fair Burden Sharing While Challenging Defense Promises

At the NATO summit in The Hague, President Donald Trump faced an alliance deeply reshaped by his persistent demand that member nations shoulder their share of defense costs. Yet, while celebrating strides made toward his signature goal—boosting NATO defense spending to as high as 5% of GDP—Trump simultaneously cast doubt on the United States’ unwavering commitment to Article 5, the alliance’s cornerstone mutual-defense clause. Demanding Fairness From Allies Trump has repeatedly confronted NATO members for decades of what he sees as freeloading. Speaking at the summit, he boasted how he forced allied countries to increase their military budgets, declaring that...