President Trump: ‘A Big One for Western Civilization’

President Donald Trump flew out to the Netherlands on June 24 to participate in the NATO summit in The Hague, where he was widely credited with having been the driving force behind a new NATO commitment to spend 5% (up from the current 2% minimum) of gross domestic product on defense spending. As NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said, without Trump this “would not have happened.”  

The summit consisted of the heads of state and heads of government of the 32 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, their partner countries, and the European Union. 

For Trump, it was the first NATO summit of his second presidential term. In his first term, Trump was met with acrimony and resistance from other NATO members for his calls on NATO countries to contribute more spending to defense. 

The summit was also the inaugural summit for Rutte—who made headlines after jokingly referring to Trump as “daddy” when the president was questioned on his earlier remarks about Israel and Iran.  

While this quote from Rutte has humorously made headlines, it also represents a larger paradigm shift from Trump’s first term when the president struggled to get NATO members to muster up a mere 2% of their GDP to go towards defense.  

This time, however, the president walked away from the summit with NATO allies agreeing to move their defense spending all the way up to 5%, also as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War and associated increased security risks. This new number is a vindication of the president’s direct and consistent approach towards European partners. 

Of course, it wouldn’t be a NATO conference without at least one country refusing to pay, and— perhaps unsurprisingly— the main culprit was Spain. Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez walked away with an opt-out from spending more on defense. The last-minute exemption states that Spain will only spend up to 2.1%, which Sánchez called “sufficient and realistic.”  

Despite 2% having been the minimum for decades, Spain is already shirking that commitment. Of the many European countries guilty of neglecting their NATO commitments, Spain has historically been one of the worst culprits, and they spent just 1.24% of GDP on defense in 2024. 

Trump is completely justified in criticizing Spain and threatening higher tariffs. Spain has continually failed to meet its treaty obligations, and—as Trump’s success in convincing other European countries to pay more demonstrates—the president is a highly-successful negotiator. 

Some might worry about deteriorating US-European relations with threats like this, but Trump was warmly welcomed to The Hague. The president stayed at the palace of the Netherlands king during his NATO visit, marking the first time an American president stayed at the king’s residence in The Hague.  

The president was pictured enthusiastically smiling with the Netherland’s King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch, and he attended a friendly and lively dinner of NATO heads of state and government ahead of the summit. 

Contrary to the traditional narrative, Trump likes Europe; and he has emphasized that he likes Spain, despite their lack of commitment. Pushing for higher defense spending will ultimately result in a safer Europe capable of defending its sovereignty.  

This summit represented a big win for the president’s agenda and foreign policy agenda; but most of all, it represented a big win for Europe and for the West as whole. A stronger Europe should be welcomed by all Americans, and as Trump said, this summit was “a big one for Western Civilization.” 

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