Frontline NATO countries put on brave face as Trump casts doubt on collective defense

THE HAGUE — NATO leaders insisted that Donald Trump is fully committed to the alliance’s mutual defense clause ahead of Wednesday’s summit that is largely designed to keep the U.S. president interested in European security. 

On Tuesday, on his way to the summit, Trump cast doubt again on whether Washington would be bound by NATO’s Article 5 common defense provision if an ally is attacked, saying, “There are numerous definitions of Article 5.”

However, when arriving at the summit on Wednesday, he told reporters: “We’re with them all the way.”

Nordic and Baltic countries — the most exposed nations if Russian President Vladimir Putin does decide to attack NATO territory in the next five years — had no choice but claim there is no problem and Trump is fully committed to Europe’s security.

“Article 5 is absolutely working,” Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told reporters ahead of the gathering.

“I don’t think President Trump is relativizing Article 5,” echoed Finnish President Alexander Stubb. 

“I think the U.S. is 100 percent behind NATO obligations and Article 5,” Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre also said. 

“There is absolutely no discussion over [Article 5],” said Polish President Andrzej Duda. 

NATO allies are expected to agree later on Wednesday on a new defense spending target of 5 percent of GDP, which is a figure Trump has demanded for months. The alliance’s European members are hoping that, in exchange, the U.S. president will remain involved in the continent’s security. 

Trump’s comments show that the U.S. doesn’t have to actually leave NATO and physically remove American tanks and warships from the continent to weaken the alliance’s credibility. 

Still, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda acknowledged a debate on collective defense could be worthwhile to ensure all allies are on the same page.

“We need this very frank discussion about Article 5,” he told reporters, so that “all together … our understanding is the same.”

But he added: “If [Trump] would not interested in the future of the NATO why he would push this 5 percent [target]?”

NATO allies also insisted that Spain didn’t get a carveout from the new 5 percent objective, despite Madrid’s claims that it won’t need to spend more than 2.1 percent of GDP to reach NATO’s new capability targets. 

“The point of an alliance is to make sure that there is a fair burden sharing,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, criticizing “free riding.”

Belgium’s Prime Minister  Bart De Wever, another NATO spending laggard, softened his tone about the new objective. While he had initially said his country would seek “maximum flexibility,” he fell back into line. 

“We accept the same texts for the 32 NATO members.There is no opt out, no special treatment for any member state. We want to be a NATO member loyal to its obligations,” he told reporters. 

He added that if Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is able to reach the NATO capability targets while spending so little, then he would be a financial “genius.”

Eli Stokols and Chris Lunday contributed reporting.