Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive

What happened

President Donald Trump Wednesday reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of NATO, hailing the trans-Atlantic military alliance as "not a rip-off" at a summit in the Netherlands. Member nations pledged to increase their military budgets to 5% of GDP in the coming decade, rectifying a longtime complaint by Trump. Spain declined to commit to the NATO spending goals, however, prompting Trump to threaten Madrid with "twice as much" tariffs.

Who said what

Trump's "fit of pique" against Spain was the exception to "what was otherwise a cheerful victory lap" for the famously NATO-adverse leader, Politico said. Even if the NATO countries "spend unevenly," The New York Times said, the ultimate result of yesterday's agreement should be a "very large increase in Europe's military spending."

Trump's "full-throated endorsement of NATO and its defense mission" was also the "payoff of a major effort by other NATO members to flatter him," The Washington Post said. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte's "charm offensive" included a night in a Dutch royal palace, CNN said, plus "kowtowing" praise and a "jokey aside" about Trump's Iran-Israel F-bomb: "Daddy  has to sometimes use strong language." And there was a "growing sense" Rutte had "pulled off a diplomatic masterstroke."

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"I came here because it was something I'm supposed to be doing," Trump said during an hourlong press conference in The Hague. "But I left here a little bit different."

What next?

As "political theater," the summit "won over its intended audience: Trump," Reuters said. But most NATO members "can ill-afford to spend 5% of output on defense," so expect some "creative accounting" along with "unpalatable sacrifices in national budgets." This is "where the rubber hits the road," Rachel Rizzo, a European defense expert at the Atlantic Council, told the Times. With the U.S. signaling a pullback from Europe, NATO nations must show their defense spending can "translate into hard military capabilities" soon.