Trump wants one thing from the NATO summit. Europe is going to give it to him.
A streamlined summit centering around a new pledge to increase defense spending has been designed to give the president a victory lap.
President Donald Trump wants one big thing from next week’s NATO leader’s summit — and European leaders are itching to give it to him. That doesn’t guarantee the president will be satisfied.
The 32-nation transatlantic military alliance will pledge to dramatically increase spending on defense to 5 percent of gross domestic product — 3.5 percent on hard military expenditures and 1.5 percent on more loosely defined defense-related efforts. The commitment, a watershed moment that could rebalance transatlantic security, will allow Trump, who’s been demanding Europe pick up more of the burden for its own defense, a significant victory on the world stage.
