US President Donald Trump has called it 'ridiculous' for Washington to continue supporting NATO, alleging that the intergovernmental military alliance's member countries were 'not there for us.'
Trump's Truth Social post criticizes NATO spending
In a post on Truth Social on Thursday (local time), Trump alleged that the US relationship with NATO 'is not reciprocal.' He shared a chart depicting defense spending by various NATO countries, highlighting that Washington's investment vastly exceeds that of other member states, including the UK, Italy, France, and Poland.
'Ridiculous for the U.S.A. to continue along this one-sided path when the relationship is not reciprocal. They were not there for us!!! President DJT,' he wrote.
NATO Secretary General's rebuttal with jobs data
Last month, however, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met with Trump and presented charts showing how Trump's influence has pushed NATO countries to increase their defense spending, benefiting US jobs and companies.
'I want to take you if you stay here I go over to these boards here because I want to show you what this president was able to achieve,' Rutte said. 'And I start with this chart. This chart is about the Trump Trillion. The Trump Trillion shows you the increase Europeans and Canadians are paying into defence since you took office in 2017. Trump 45 plus Trump 47. A total of extra spent by the Europeans and the Canadians of 1.2 trillion.'
Rutte detailed that the isolated effect of Trump's second term (Trump 47) has led to almost $140 billion extra spent on defense by Europeans and Canadians in 2025 and 2026, with an additional $120 billion expected this year, bringing the two-year total to over $250 billion.
European investment supports 195,000 US jobs
The NATO chief presented hard data linking European military buildup directly to domestic American employment. He revealed that European investments and procurement currently support a staggering 195,000 jobs across the United States.
'I can assure you this is because of Russia, because of the threat, but I'm also absolutely convinced that you being president of the United States, being consistently pushing for something which since Eisenhower has not been achieved, which is the Europeans equalizing their defense spending with the United States,' Rutte said. 'This is your evidence. Then when it comes to jobs, look here. In total 195,000 jobs being supported by investment. Investment from European companies into the United States, 83,000 jobs supported by that. 112,000 jobs created by the fact that Europeans are massively about half of all their defense spending when it comes to defense industrial output is spent in the United States.'
According to Rutte, European nations spent $54 billion on US defense industrial output last year alone. He also announced that European defense orders have generated a massive $300 billion backlog already locked into US defense contractors' order books for the coming years.
'There is now an order backlog of 300 billion. So 300 billion dollars of defence spending from Europeans buying this in the US over next couple of years which is already on the order book. Last year 54 billion, total now order book 300 billion. Totally almost 200,000 jobs. These are real jobs, real people. Like you had yesterday when you spoke in Pennsylvania, the people behind you,' he said.
Upcoming NATO Summit in Ankara
The remarks come ahead of the upcoming NATO Summit, scheduled to take place in Ankara, Turkey, from July 7 to July 8, 2026. The summit will be held at the Bestepe Presidential Compound and will be chaired by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
