White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a news briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Yuri Gripas, Abaca Press/TNS)
WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service) — Donald Trump will attend the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit at The Hague, the White House said, as the U.S. president seeks to rally the alliance’s members to step up defense spending.
“I can confirm he will be going to the NATO summit,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday.
Trump has said he wants members of the alliance to spend 5% of GDP on the military, in what would amount to a substantial increase from current levels for many nations.
The alliance will discuss a target that would see nations commit to spending 3.5% of GDP on core defense and another 1.5% in defense-related outlays on areas including infrastructure, cyber defense and civilian preparedness. That’s expected to include expanding ground-based air-defense capabilities.
The June 24-25 summit comes shortly after Group of Seven leaders are expected to meet in Canada, setting up a pair of high-profile meetings where allies are expected to discuss progress on brokering a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
Trump “remains positive” about the status of talks between Moscow and Kyiv, Leavitt said.
“The President does not want to see this war prolonged. He wants the fighting to stop. He wants people to stop dying, and he wants this to be solved at the negotiating table,” she said.
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