NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Tuesday credited US President Donald Trump for driving a major increase in allied defense spending, saying he is "extremely optimistic" about the future of the alliance because of Trump's leadership.
"We clearly see that the Europeans have heard the American president and are responding when it comes to the more fundamental question of NATO's future. I'm extremely optimistic, and I'm extremely optimistic because of President Trump," Rutte said during a joint press conference with Montenegrin Premier Milojko Spajic in Podgorica.
Rutte said all NATO allies are now meeting the alliance's 2% defense spending benchmark, including larger economies such as Canada, Spain, Belgium and Italy, which had previously fallen short.
"And I think the re-election of President Trump played a large role here," he said.
Rutte also highlighted the alliance's decision at The Hague summit to move toward spending 5% of GDP on defense, including 3.5% on core military spending.
"This is something that President Trump has been pushing for for many years, and he has been successful now, at the beginning of his second term, to get this done," he said.
He added that the increase in spending is necessary not only to rebalance defense contributions with the US but also to counter growing threats from Russia.
