United States President Donald Trump has shared a series of texts from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte praising his attacks on Iran and the pressure he placed on allies to increase their military spending.
Trump shared Rutte’s texts in a screenshot posted to his social media website, Truth Social, on Tuesday, as he travels to a NATO summit in the Netherlands.
“Mr President, dear Donald, Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran, that was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do. It makes us all safer,” the message reads.
Afterwards, Rutte defended Trump’s decision to share what appeared to be private messages. The NATO chief added that his tone in the messages – which some said seemed to mimic Trump’s own style of writing – was “appropriate”.
The messages highlight European efforts to form a productive relationship with Trump, who has frequently said the continent must spend more on its military capabilities. He has also questioned the value of the US’s economic and security partnerships with NATO allies in Europe and Canada.
The texts also underscore the widespread praise Trump has received from European leaders for his bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, even though those strikes are considered by many to be illegal under international law.
In his messages, Rutte commends Trump for pushing European nations to increase their military spending, stating that NATO members have agreed to boost such spending to 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP).
“Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win,” said Rutte, adding that Trump had achieved what “NO American president in decades could get done”.
Trump had been pushing for increases to NATO defence spending since his first term, from 2017 to 2021. He has long accused NATO allies of taking advantage of the US by relying on its military might.
Previously, NATO members had agreed to a spending goal that represented 2 percent of their GDP. Trump had pushed for that to be raised to 5 percent, with 3.5 percent of that sum dedicated to “hard defence” investments like weaponry.
Some countries, however, including Spain, have pushed back against the calls to increase military spending, calling the demand “unreasonable”.
“There’s a problem with Spain. Spain is not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them, frankly,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way to the two-day meeting.
Trump, meanwhile, has continued to send mixed signals about his commitment to NATO, a mutual defence alliance created during the Cold War. It has been a cornerstone of US and European cooperation ever since.
Trump has long signalled ambivalence towards Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, NATO’s founding document. That article includes a mutual defence clause that requires NATO members to consider an attack on one country to be an attack on the group as a whole.
When pressed about his commitment to Article 5 on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that there could be “numerous definitions” of the clause. Rutte, asked about the comment, said he had “no doubt” that the US was committed to mutual defence.
Criticisms of NATO are not new or unique to Trump. Sceptics have pointed out that the threat it was created to balance against, the USSR, had long ceased to exist. Proponents, meanwhile, have argued the alliance serves as an important bulwark against modern-day military aggression.
But Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 breathed new life into the organisation, expanding its ranks with the addition of countries like Finland and Sweden and prompting increased calls for greater defence spending.
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