Trump Challenges NATO Unity, Slams Allies on Defense Spending

President Donald Trump challenged NATO's united front on Wednesday, slamming several allies for not spending enough on defense, spotlighting internal divisions within the alliance.

NATO leaders' gathering in Turkey comes at a time when the alliance is facing mounting challenges both externally and internally, and questions are mounting on how to best support Ukraine in its war against its larger neighbor, Russia.

Trump has repeatedly publicized his discontent with NATO since returning to the White House last year, pushing member states to commit to greater defense spending, and more recently lambasting NATO allies for refusing to join America's military action in Iran.

On Wednesday morning at the summit in Ankara, Trump made excoriating remarks, including that he didn't "anything to do" with NATO member Spain, which has not committed to the alliance's new target of spending 5% of GDP by 2035.

"Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don't participate. They don't pay. I don't want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits," he said at a press conference in Ankara with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Trump also reignited inter-alliance tensions when he resurfaced his desire to take control of Greenland, a territory of NATO member Denmark.

Speaking to reporters earlier, Rutte touted greater cohesion between member states, higher defense spending and a series of military deals being inked at the event as signs of "NATO 3.0" emerging.

Despite Trump's fresh push for the U.S. to acquire Greenland, Rutte insisted that Washington remained committed to the NATO alliance.

"There is complete commitment of the United States to NATO … the commitment is there, no doubt," Rutte told journalists as he arrived at the NATO summit on Wednesday morning. "Also, NATO is there in the U.S. interest to prevent, for example, nuclear submarines of Russia ending up on the shores of the United States. The U.S., to stay safe, needs a secure Atlantic, Europe, and Arctic, so there is complete commitment to NATO."

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Rutte added that the alliance's commitment to spend 5% of members' national gross domestic product on defense, agreed last year, was a "big win" for all its members — and a loss for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I expect again today to acknowledge collectively that Russia is the long-term threat to NATO territory," he said, ahead of meetings between allies.

When asked if he had a message for Putin, Rutte replied: "Don't fool with us."

"My message is that this alliance of 1 billion people living in Europe, living in Canada, living in the United States, that this alliance will defend every inch of our territory," he said. "You cannot win [against] NATO. We are defensive. We will never attack anyone. We will only defend our way of life, our democracies, our territory. So don't fool with us, don't play with us."

NATO has been heavily involved in providing military assistance to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale war in the country in early 2022. Parts of the alliance's eastern flank — Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania — share borders with Ukraine.

Moscow strongly opposes Ukraine joining NATO, and has claimed the military alliance's expansion in Eastern Europe was a reason for the launch of its so-called "special military operation" in Ukraine.