Trump targets Spain, NATO backs Ukraine: Is the alliance still united?
While NATO members have agreed to boost defence spending, Trump’s attacks on Spain and Greenland have threatened unity. NATO concluded a two-day summit in Turkiye’s
While NATO members have agreed to boost defence spending, Trump’s attacks on Spain and Greenland have threatened unity. NATO concluded a two-day summit in Turkiye’s Ankara on Wednesday afternoon, with members discussing defence budgets and support for Ukraine, but with simultaneous talk of unity and discord underscoring an uncertain path ahead for an alliance that has been the bedrock of the West’s security architecture for more than 75 years. While allies appeared aligned on several key issues, United States President Donald Trump used the summit to criticise NATO partners over defence spending, including Spain, on which he imposed a trade embargo. Despite this, Trump described the summit as “tremendously successful”. “It was amazing, actually,” he told reporters. “The unity in that room was incredible, really a love, it was sort of pretty wild.” Here are key developments at the summit — some demonstrating consensus, others revealing fissures. Leaders agree to increase defence spending, Ukraine aid In their summit declaration, NATO leaders reaffirmed their “ironclad commitment” to the mutual assistance clause enshrined in Article 5 of the alliance treaty. In earlier years, that commitment was a given, its mention in a summit declaration a pro forma nod to the founding document of the alliance. But Trump has repeatedly questioned the worth of the alliance, accused NATO members of “not being there” for the US when it needed them — such as during the war on Iran this year — and left open the possibility that Washington might not come to the defence of allies if they come under attack. Against that backdrop, the summit declaration would serve as a reassuring promise from the US, by far the world’s largest and most powerful military. Meanwhile, European leaders showcased their surging defence spending at the summit as they looked to convince Trump they are making good on a pledge to ramp up budgets and take more responsibility for their own security.
The commitments included “more than $50 billion in new procurements”, according to the NATO declaration. Trump has long said Europe should spend more on defence, and his administration is pushing Europeans to take primary responsibility for the conventional defence of the continent. However, NATO data shows that only five of its 32 members are projected to meet the alliance’s goal of spending 3.5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on core defence in 2026. At the summit, 32 NATO heads of state also pledged 70 billion euros ($80bn) in assistance to Ukraine. “The NATO member states have generated a show of unity over Ukraine on this occasion. They have all rallied to the notion that Ukraine is successfully stemming Russia’s creeping advance,” Jolyon Howorth, emeritus professor of European politics at the University of Bath, told Al Jazeera. “But there is little unity, either within Europe or between the Atlantic partners, as to the way forward with Ukraine. That is unlikely to change even when Trump finally leaves the White House.” Trump cuts off trade with Spain, threatens Greenland Trump spoke of “love” in the room, but there was no love lost for Spain, as he issued an order for a trade embargo on Wednesday. He asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “cut off all trade … including visits” with the country amid tensions over defence spending. The Treasury Department, Commerce Department and the Trade Representative’s office will work to present Trump with “a menu of Spanish products that may be embargoed in the coming days”, a US official told the Reuters news agency. The comments suggest a trade ban could be partial. Also on Wednesday, Trump told reporters: “I’m not happy with NATO because of what they did with Greenland, and I’m not happy with NATO because of the fact that they didn’t want to help us with the number one state sponsor of terror, that’s Iran.” Trump’s escalating attacks on Spain, coupled with his renewed threats to acquire Greenland – an autonomous territory of Denmark – are exposing possible fractures in NATO’s cohesion.
The BriefWire