THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte praised President Donald Trump for making Europe “pay in a BIG way,” as leaders gathered in the Netherlands on Tuesday for a historic summit that could unite them around a new defense spending pledge or widen divisions among the 32 member countries of the security alliance.
The U.S. president, while en route, published a screenshot of a private message from Rutte saying: “Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe and the world. You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done.”
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From left, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose as they meet on the sidelines of the two-day NATO's Heads of State and Government summit in The Hague, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Ben Stansall/Pool Photo via AP)
President Donald Trump, right, is welcomed by Netherland's King Willem Alexander, Netherland's Queen Maxima and Netherland's Crown Princess Amalia as he arrives for a formal dinner at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Misha Schoemakers, Pool Photo via AP)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrives ahead of a formal dinner at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
President Donald Trump climbs the stairs to the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
From left, European Council President Antonio Costa, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speak prior to a meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
President Donald Trump, right, is welcomed by Netherland's King Willem Alexander, Netherland's Queen Maxima and Netherland's Crown Princess Amalia as he arrives for a formal dinner at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Misha Schoemakers, Pool Photo via AP)
Staff members handle the red carpet that was blown by a gust of wind ahead of President Donald Trump's arrival for a formal dinner at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
President Donald Trump exits Air Force One as he arrives at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport ahead of the NATO summit, taking place in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, visits the Netherlands marines training base, as part of the UK-Netherlands Joint Amphibious Force in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025, on the sidelines of the NATO summit. (Ben Stansall/Pool via AP)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and his wife Diana, left, arrive at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of a dinner on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Remko de Waal, Pool Photo via AP)
Netherlands' Prime Minister Dick Schoof, right, waits to welcome Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer during their meeting on the sidelines of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Heads of State and Government summit in The Hague, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Ben Stansall/Pool Photo via AP)
Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof, right, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting at the Catshuis on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof, left, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting at the Catshuis on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof, right, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting at the Catshuis on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, center right, addresses the audience at the NATO public forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte addresses the audience at the NATO public forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte addresses the audience at the NATO public forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, June 23, 2025 ahead of the NATO summit. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Security patrol around the perimeter of the venue ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks during the NATO summit, Dec. 4, 2019, in Watford, England. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)
International flags on the venue ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
“Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win,” Rutte wrote. NATO confirmed that he sent the message.
Rutte appeared unconcerned that Trump aired it, telling reporters: “I have absolutely no trouble or problem with that because there’s nothing in it which had to stay secret."
Trump arrived early in the evening after injecting uncertainty over whether the U.S. would abide by the mutual defense guarantees outlined in the NATO treaty. “Depends on your definition,” he said. Rutte said he has no doubt about the Article 5 guarantee, which says an armed attack on one member is an attack on all.
On Wednesday, the allies are likely to endorse a goal of spending 5% of their gross domestic product on their security, to be able to fulfil the alliance’s plans for defending against outside attack. Trump has said the U.S. should not have to.
Spain has said it cannot, and that the target is “unreasonable.” Slovakia said it reserves the right to decide how to reach the target by NATO's new 2035 deadline.
“There’s a problem with Spain. Spain is not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them, frankly,” Trump told reporters.
In 2018, a NATO summit during Trump's first term unraveled due to a dispute over defense spending.
Ahead of the meeting, Britain, France and Germany committed to the 5% goal. The Netherlands is also on board. Nations closer to the borders of Ukraine, Russia and its ally Belarus had previously pledged to do so.
Trump’s first appearance at NATO since returning to the White House was supposed to center on how the U.S. secured the historic military spending pledge from others in the alliance — effectively bending it to its will.
But the spotlight has shifted to Trump’s decision to strike three nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran that the administration says eroded Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, as well as the president’s sudden announcement that Israel and Iran had reached a “complete and total ceasefire.”
Ukraine has also suffered as a result of that new conflict. It has created a need for weapons and ammunition that Kyiv desperately wants, and shifted the world's attention. Past NATO summits have focused almost entirely on the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
Still, Rutte insisted NATO could manage more than one conflict at a time.
“If we would not be able to deal with ... the Middle East, which is very big and commanding all the headlines, and Ukraine at the same time, we should not be in the business of politics and military at all," he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in The Hague for meetings, despite his absence from a leaders’ meeting aiming to seal the military spending agreement.
It’s a big change since the summit in Washington last year, when the alliance’s weighty communique included a vow to supply long-term security assistance to Ukraine, and a commitment to back the country “on its irreversible path” to NATO membership.
Zelenskyy’s first official engagement this time was with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof at his official residence across the road from the summit venue.
But in a telling sign of Ukraine’s status at the summit, neither leader mentioned NATO. Ukraine’s bid to join the alliance has been put in deep freeze by Trump.
“Let me be very clear, Ukraine is part of the family that we call the Euro-Atlantic family,” Schoof told Zelenskyy, who in turn said he sees his country’s future in peace “and of course, a part of a big family of EU family.”
Schoof used the meeting to announce a new package of Dutch support to Kyiv including 100 radar systems to detect drones and a move to produce drones for Ukraine in the Netherlands, using Kyiv’s specifications.
The U.S. has made no new public pledges of support to Ukraine since Trump took office six months ago.
Meeting later with Rutte and top EU officials, Zelenskyy appealed for European investment in Ukraine's defense industry, which can produce weapons and ammunition more quickly and cheaply than elsewhere in Europe.
“No doubt, we must stop (Russian President Vladimir) Putin now and in Ukraine. But we have to understand that his objectives reach beyond Ukraine," he said. He said NATO's new target of 5% of GDP "is the right level.”
An earlier version of this story removed a reference to Trump’s first NATO summit, which was in 2017.
From left, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose as they meet on the sidelines of the two-day NATO's Heads of State and Government summit in The Hague, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Ben Stansall/Pool Photo via AP)
President Donald Trump, right, is welcomed by Netherland's King Willem Alexander, Netherland's Queen Maxima and Netherland's Crown Princess Amalia as he arrives for a formal dinner at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Misha Schoemakers, Pool Photo via AP)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrives ahead of a formal dinner at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
President Donald Trump climbs the stairs to the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
From left, European Council President Antonio Costa, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speak prior to a meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
President Donald Trump, right, is welcomed by Netherland's King Willem Alexander, Netherland's Queen Maxima and Netherland's Crown Princess Amalia as he arrives for a formal dinner at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Misha Schoemakers, Pool Photo via AP)
Staff members handle the red carpet that was blown by a gust of wind ahead of President Donald Trump's arrival for a formal dinner at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
President Donald Trump exits Air Force One as he arrives at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport ahead of the NATO summit, taking place in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, visits the Netherlands marines training base, as part of the UK-Netherlands Joint Amphibious Force in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025, on the sidelines of the NATO summit. (Ben Stansall/Pool via AP)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and his wife Diana, left, arrive at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of a dinner on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Remko de Waal, Pool Photo via AP)
Netherlands' Prime Minister Dick Schoof, right, waits to welcome Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer during their meeting on the sidelines of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Heads of State and Government summit in The Hague, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Ben Stansall/Pool Photo via AP)
Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof, right, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting at the Catshuis on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof, left, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting at the Catshuis on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof, right, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting at the Catshuis on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, center right, addresses the audience at the NATO public forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte addresses the audience at the NATO public forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte addresses the audience at the NATO public forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, June 23, 2025 ahead of the NATO summit. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Security patrol around the perimeter of the venue ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks during the NATO summit, Dec. 4, 2019, in Watford, England. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)
International flags on the venue ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
