Nato Secretary-general Tells Trump He's Motivating Alliance Members To Spend More On Defense

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte laid on the praise for President Donald Trump on Thursday as the two met in the Oval Office at a time when the president's comments have raised doubts about his commitment to the transatlantic alliance and its mutual defense treaty.

Rutte welcomed Trump's efforts to get fellow members of the alliance to step up their defense spending and told the president, "I think they want to work together with you in the run-up to the next summit to make sure that we will have a NATO, which is newly invigorated under your leadership."

Rutte played up the European Commission's call this month for 800 billion euros 874 billion in new defense spending by the 27-member bloc, and mentioned recent commitments from the United Kingdom and Germany to surge spending on security in those countries.

"What's happened the last couple of weeks is really staggering," said Rutte, while acknowledging there is still more the alliance can do.

Rutte comments come after Trump last week lashed out at members for not meeting a spending target of 2 of their gross domestic product on defense.