NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte applauded President Trump for the work he did at the NATO summit to get other members to spend more on defense.
Mr. Rutte told the New York Times that “when somebody deserves praise, that praise should be given.”
“President Trump deserves all the praise, because without his leadership, without him being re-elected president of the United States, the 2 percent this year and the 5 percent in 2035 — we would never, ever, ever have been able to achieve agreement on this.”
Mr. Rutte said he’s “confident of the fact that Trump very much realizes that for the U.S. to stay strong and safe, there is this embeddedness with European security and working together to keep the Indo-Pacific safe.”
Mr. Trump has been a vocal critic of NATO in the past and maintained that European countries do not pay their fair share for defense spending, leaving the U.S. to carry the brunt of it.
At the NATO summit last month, member countries agreed to increase their spending from 2% of gross domestic product to 5% by 2035.
“United in the face of profound security threats and challenges, in particular the long- term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security and the persistent threat of terrorism, Allies commit to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence-and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations,” a joint declaration out of NATO said.
The president, at his post-summit press conference, said that he was leaving feeling different than when he first got there.
“Look, when I came here, I came here because it was something I’m supposed to be doing, but I left here a little bit different,” Mr. Trump said.
He said he watched the world leaders he was surrounded by talk about the love and passion they have for their countries.
“I’ve never seen quite anything like it,” he said. “They want to protect their country, and they need the United States, and without the United States, it’s not going to be the same.”
He said the world leaders were respectful of him.
“Almost every one of them said, ‘Thank God for the United States,’” he said.
“I left here differently. I left here saying that these people really love their countries,” he said. “It’s not a rip-off, and we’re here to help them protect their country.”
Mr. Rutte complimented Mr. Trump on handling the growing conflict between Israel and Iran, saying he did an “excellent job on Iran with the bombing of the nuclear facility.”
The NATO leader at NATO joked that Mr. Trump acted as a “daddy” when getting Middle Eastern countries to behave.
The White House later embraced the nickname, posting a video showing Mr. Trump attending the summit with the song “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home) by Usher playing in the background.
