U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday wrapped up participation in the annual NATO summit facing an alliance that had largely bent to his will. Far from the tense meetings of Trump’s first term, much of the annual summit in The Hague seemed catered to the impulses and worldviews of the Republican president whose “America First” foreign policy ethos downplays the importance and influence of multilateral coalitions. After less than 24 hours on the ground in the Netherlands, Trump headed back to Washington having secured a major policy change he’s pushed for since 2017: a significant boost in defense spending by other NATO countries whom the president has for years accused of freeloading off the United States. The focus on Ukraine was scaled back dramatically, with its invasion by Russia earning only a passing mention in the summit’s official statement, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s profile at the gathering diminished. Trump also sent NATO scattering for reassurances that the United States would remain committed to the alliance’s mutual defense pledge, affirming on Wednesday that he would abide by Article 5 of the NATO treaty just a day after he rattled the 32-nation alliance by being equivocal about the pact. “I stand with it. That’s why I’m here,” Trump said when asked to clarify his stance on Article 5. “If I didn’t stand with it, I wouldn’t be here.” Trump shifts his tone on NATO At a news conference later Wednesday, Trump sounded reflective as he described feeling inspired by other NATO countries that were motivated to provide for their own defense by bolstering their own spending. “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,” Trump said, later adding: “I left here differently. I — I left here saying, ‘These people really love their countries. It’s not a rip-off.’ And we are here to help them protect their country.” He had mused just a day earlier that whether he abides by the treaty “depends on your definition” of Article 5. The mutual praise in The Hague on Wednesday stands in stark contrast to Trump’s previous harsh words for the alliance, whose value he had long questioned. It also reflects the efforts made by other world leaders during the early months of Trump’s second term to approach the mercurial president using his own language of superlatives and flattery. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer showed up to the Oval Office in February to hand-deliver an invitation from King Charles III for a second state visit, which Starmer called “unprecedented.” Italy’s Giorgia Meloni has promised to “make the West great again,” echoing Trump’s campaign slogan. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte wrote in a message to “Mr. President, dear Donald” that his push for increased alliance defense spending would help “achieve something NO American president in decades could get done.” Trump gets a win on spending increase The 32 leaders endorsed a final summit statement saying: “Allies commit to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defense requirements as well as defense- and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations.” “I’ve been asking them to go up to 5% for a number of years,” Trump said earlier in the day as he met with Rutte, whose private message of praise the U.S. president posted on his Truth Social account. Spain had already officially announced […]