NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, on Wednesday to prepare for NATO’s summit in Ankara in July.
Rutte told reporters that European NATO members and Canada were “on a trajectory to equalise their spending with the United States”, and thanked Trump for his “leadership”, the alliance press service reported on Thursday.
He said defence spending by European allies and Canada was “almost 20% more” in 2025 than the year before.
Rutte also presented charts in the Oval Office showing more than $1 trillion in cumulative extra “core defence expenditure” by European allies and Canada since 2016. Core defence expenditure refers to a country’s main military spending.
The European defence industry supported more than 83,000 jobs in the United States, he said.
Ukraine and the Ankara summit
Rutte discussed NATO’s support for Ukraine during the visit and referred to “bringing Ukraine to a lasting peace.”
“Ukraine is doing so much better over the last five, six months than before — also, thanks to all the help the US is providing,” he said.
On Thursday, Rutte met members of the US Congress on Capitol Hill and later spoke at the Atlantic Council, where he set out expectations for the Ankara meeting.
“In Ankara we are going to show that we are delivering on the commitments we made in The Hague last year,” Rutte said, citing defence investment, defence industry and continued support for Ukraine.
