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Your guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington, business and the world<\/p>\n
Donald Trump\u2019s commitment to Nato should not worry allies as long as they drastically increase their defence spending, according to the alliance\u2019s secretary-general at the outset of a summit designed to placate the US president.<\/p>\n
While many European allies, including Germany, France and the UK have committed to meet Trump\u2019s new target of 5 per cent of GDP on defence over the next decade, Spain has secured an opt-out increasing the likelihood of a clash at the Nato leaders\u2019 meeting in The Hague on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte on Tuesday said that if allies spent more, they could rest assured Trump would not withdraw US guarantees that have underpinned the continent\u2019s security for decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is total commitment by the US President\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009to Nato,\u201d Rutte said ahead of the event. \u201cHowever it comes with an expectation that we will deal with this\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009huge irritant that we are not spending enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy message to my European colleagues is: Stop worrying so much\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009Stop running around being worried about the US. They are with us,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
To meet Trump\u2019s demands, Rutte has drawn up a plan for allies to allocate 3.5 per cent of their GDP to core military spending and 1.5 per cent on areas such as cyber and infrastructure by 2035, to fill gaps in European capabilities.<\/p>\n
But Spain has refused to commit to the overall 5 per cent target and secured an opt-out by pledging to meet the Nato capabilities goal at what it estimates will be a lower cost. <\/p>\n
Other capitals have also requested the same \u201cflexibility\u201d that Rutte has granted Madrid, increasing the risk for the summit to end in acrimony and triggering Trump\u2019s ire over what he sees as European allies freeloading on American largesse.<\/p>\n
Last week, Trump cited Spain as being \u201cnotorious\u201d for not spending enough, and said that Nato would need to \u201cdeal with\u201d the country. \u201cSpain has been a very low payer\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. Spain has to pay what everybody else has to pay,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n
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Rutte said increased spending was not just about appeasing Trump but also ensuring Europe could stand up to a revanchist Russia.<\/p>\n
Moscow \u201ccould try something\u201d against a Nato member in \u201cthree, five, seven years\u201d, Rutte said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that Russia is reconstituting itself at a speed that is really\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009frightening,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe need the 5 per cent spending\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009I am hopeful we will get there,\u201d Rutte added. \u201cIf we want to avoid war, spend more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington, business and the world Donald Trump\u2019s commitment to Nato should not worry allies as long as they drastically increase their defence spending, according to the alliance\u2019s secretary-general at the outset of a summit designed to placate the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[2051,2050,964,896,2049,2052,1966,81],"class_list":{"0":"post-9622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-alliance","9":"tag-committed","10":"tag-donald","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-natos","13":"tag-pays","14":"tag-rutte","15":"tag-trump"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}