Trump holds first meeting with NATO Secretary General... Expected discussions on Ukraine war and defense costs

Pressure on NATO Member States to Increase Defense Spending Draws Attention

U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House.

Reuters Yonhap News

On the 11th (local time), White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt announced in a briefing that President Trump is scheduled to hold a working meeting and luncheon with the NATO Secretary General on the 13th.

This is the first time since Trump took office in January that he will meet with the head of NATO, the North American and European diplomatic and security alliance. The meeting is expected to focus on the ongoing negotiations regarding the Ukraine war and post-war security guarantees.

There is also a possibility that the issue of defense spending by NATO member countries will be discussed at this meeting. President Trump has expressed dissatisfaction that some NATO members have not properly fulfilled their commitment to spend 2% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defense. During an executive order signing ceremony held in the White House Oval Office on the 6th, he strongly pressured by saying, "If NATO countries do not pay, I will not defend them."

Furthermore, President Trump has consistently argued that NATO should increase defense spending to around 5% of GDP. This is because Europe, feeling a real security threat due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, needs to make efforts to defend itself.

President Trump's pressure on NATO to increase defense spending could similarly apply to South Korea and Japan, where U.S. troops are stationed to counter North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile threats, making the discussions at this meeting particularly noteworthy. On the 6th, while pressuring NATO to increase defense spending, President Trump claimed that the U.S.-Japan security treaty is unfair, stating, "We have to protect Japan, but Japan does not need to protect us. Yet Japan makes a lot of money from us."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.