The Guardian: Trump said he was “very upset with NATO”

European leaders were concerned Trump was in a bad mood after a NATO dinner on Tuesday night and were bracing themselves for a difficult summit meeting on Wednesday morning as the situation in the Middle East deteriorated, The Guardian notes.

That was confirmed when Trump sat down next to Rutte and began a diatribe, starting with Iran. The president then returned to issues and themes that have irritated him during a year in which he started a war with Iran that led to a hike in oil prices, a loss of control in Hormuz and a failure to resolve the nuclear issue.

Trump said he was “very upset with NATO” and complained that alliance members “didn’t want to help us with the number one state sponsor of terror, that’s Iran”, a reference to a refusal by European countries apart from the UK to allow the US to carry out bombing missions from Europe’s airbases.

There was a specific jibe aimed at the UK, which did not initially allow the US to use RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire for bombing missions in Iran before the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, changed his mind and allowed limited attacks on Iranian missile sites.

“The United Kingdom wouldn’t let us use the island for two weeks, so we had to fly back,” Trump said, reiterating complaints he made against Starmer and Britain in the spring as the Iran war continued without the regime in Tehran collapsing.

The 15-minute introduction next to Rutte became a litany of complaint. “Greenland is a big problem for us,” Trump said as he renewed his claim on the self-governing Arctic territory “very important for the United States, but it’s not important for Denmark”.

Earlier, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said as she arrived that Denmark would defend “every inch” of its own territory and emphasised that Greenland was “of course not for sale”.

There was a familiar comment about NATO defence spending from Trump, despite last year’s agreement by all members, with the exception of Spain, to lift national defence budgets to 3.5% of gross domestic product by 2035 – and so bring spending by Europe and Canada in line with the US.

“I’m very upset with NATO, that we pay far, far too much,” he said. “Billions and billions of dollars, too much, because it’s unfair, because we’re protecting them, so we protect them, but they’re not there for us.”

Fresh ire was reserved for Madrid given its decision to reject the 3.5% target. “Spain doesn’t agree to anything, and you shouldn’t carry them,” Trump told Rutte. “I don’t want to do any trade with them, alright?” the president said, turning to Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, who replied: “Yes, sir.”

At first, through a mixture of flattery and occasional determined interruption, Rutte appeared to have blown Trump’s ire out – only for the US president to reignite when a journalist asked him if the Iran ceasefire was over.

Rutte flattered Trump by saying he had persuaded allies to increase defence spending to US levels by 2035, adding that this had eluded a succession of US presidents. “You did what [President Dwight] Eisenhower tried to do,” he said, “It’s your win.” Trump, interrupting, responded “That’s why I like him” before the Iran question followed.

Spanish government sources said they were greeting the US president’s latest broadside calmly. “Our country maintains an excellent social, cultural and economic relationship with the US, and we have no intention of changing that,” they said.

NATO leaders have worked hard to try to Trump-proof the Ankara summit by agreeing a short draft communique in advance.

However, a report from Bloomberg suggested NATO might not hold a summit in 2027. The hope would be to avoid a repeat of the outburst that has dominated this year’s summit, which was supposed to showcase more than $50bn (£37.5bn) in joint arms procurements, designed to show NATO members were bolstering defence spending.

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