President Donald Trump took part in a flurry of greetings with world leaders eager to get face time with the U.S. president during his brief stint at the NATO Summit.
Upon arriving, the president was welcomed by Dutch royals — King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima, and their daughter Crown Princess Amalia. He became the first president to stay at the king’s palace, Huis ten Bosch Palace.
‘I had breakfast with the king and queen this morning — beautiful people,’ Trump said. ‘I slept beautifully.’
The president said he left The Hague with fonder feelings toward the NATO alliance than when he’d arrived.
‘I came here because it was something I’m supposed to be doing, but I left here a little bit differently,’ Trump said. ‘I left here saying that these people really love their countries. It’s not a ripoff. And we’re here to help them protect their country.’
He participated in photo ops with world leaders from across the political spectrum — friend and foe alike — and received fawning praise from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who likened him to the father of the alliance.
‘Daddy has to sometimes use strong language,’ Rutte said in defense of Trump’s expletive-laden criticism of Israel and Iran for threatening the ceasefire he negotiated.
The president was riding high amid warming relations with the alliance he previously threatened to pull out of. After months of combativeness with Europe over defense spending and liberal policies, Trump praised the alliance for agreeing to his demand to raise its defense spending target to 5% of GDP.
‘Believe it or not, allies have increased spending by $700 billion,’ Trump said in a news conference. ‘his week, the NATO allies committed to dramatically increase their defense spending to that 5% of GDP, something that no one really thought possible.’
Even Spain — the only nation not to agree to commit 5% to defense — got a relatively mild drubbing from the president.
I like Spain. I have so many people from Spain. It’s a great place, and they’re great people. But Spain is … the only country out of all of the countries that refuses to pay. And, you know, so they want a little bit of a free ride,’ he said.
It was certainly a different tone from Vice President JD Vance’s address at the Munich Security Conference.
‘The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It’s not China. It’s not any other external actor,’ Vance said at the time. ‘What I worry about is the threat from within the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.’