NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte credited President Donald Trump with driving a $1.2 trillion increase in defense spending by European allies and Canada during a bilateral meeting at the Ankara summit on July 8, 2026. Rutte called the boost a “staggering achievement” and “huge win” for the military alliance, terming it the “Trump Trillion” in remarks that drew Trump’s praise.
Sitting beside Trump during their two-day summit in Turkey, Rutte lauded the president for getting NATO members to spend an additional $1.2 trillion on defense during his two terms in office. The NATO chief presented Trump with charts detailing the increases, which he had first shown to the president during a visit to the Oval Office in late June 2026.
Trump responded warmly to Rutte’s framing, describing the NATO secretary general as a “great leader” and the alliance’s “biggest asset.” When Trump criticized previous U.S. presidents for failing to pressure NATO on spending, Rutte interjected: “But you did what Eisenhower started trying to do. And all the other presidents, none of them were successful. You were the first one. It’s your win.” Trump replied simply: “That’s why I like him.”
The spending increase Rutte highlighted spans from 2017, when Trump first took office, through 2026. According to NATO data, core defense spending by Europe and Canada rose 11 percent in 2026 alone, reaching $634 billion that year, up from $571 billion in 2025. The cumulative $1.2 trillion figure reflects the compounding effect of annual increases over nearly a decade of Trump’s pressure on the alliance.
NATO members formally committed to a 2 percent of GDP defense spending target in 2014, following Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Trump has pushed for a much higher target: 5 percent of GDP by 2035. At the 2025 NATO summit in The Hague, member states agreed to work toward that goal, making it the principal outcome of that meeting.
Rutte’s approach to managing Trump—using flattery and emphasizing NATO’s spending gains—prompted mixed reactions from other alliance leaders and analysts. Marion Messmer, program director for international security at Chatham House, told CNBC that while Rutte managed to remain in Trump’s favor, his personal relationship with the president had not translated into tangible benefits for NATO as a whole, as Trump remained “obviously dissatisfied” with the alliance. Other NATO leaders, including Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, took a more defiant tone during the summit when Trump renewed his push for U.S. control over Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs defended Rutte’s diplomatic approach, telling CNBC that the NATO secretary general’s “only job is to keep the alliance running” and “do whatever it takes to have this alliance working,” adding that he does “a great job.”
Sources
- CNBC — Rutte’s praise of Trump, the $1.2 trillion figure, “staggering achievement” quote, bilateral meeting details, and analyst commentary from Marion Messmer
- ABC7 News — Confirmation of $1.2 trillion spending by European allies and Canada since 2017
- Arab News — Core defense spending by Europe and Canada rose 11 percent in 2026
- Kurdistan24 — Defense spending by Europe and Canada reached $634 billion in 2026, up from $571 billion in 2025
- The Guardian — Reference to Rutte’s “Trump Trillion” chart and terminology
- NATO.int — Official NATO statement on the Ankara summit and defense spending targets
