Trump targets Spain, NATO backs Ukraine: Is the alliance still united?
East Africa News
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.
Regional Impact
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.
Analysis
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.
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