Trump joined a social dinner at the Royal Palace, hosted by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, soon after his arrival.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands—President Donald Trump arrived in Amsterdam on Tuesday to attend the NATO summit, which is being held in The Hague from June 24 to 25. Trump got off the plane at 7:51 p.m. local time, wearing a cap with the words “USA” on it.
Shortly after his arrival, Trump joined a social dinner at the Royal Palace, hosted by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima. During the event, he and other NATO leaders posed for a group photo with the Dutch royal family.
Before departing the White House, Trump spoke to reporters, expressing deep frustration with both Iran and Israel, accusing them of violating the cease-fire deal. Both sides exchanged attacks overnight.
Israel blamed Iran for breaching the cease-fire just hours after agreeing to the deal, and then launched an attack of its own on Iran.
While acknowledging Iran’s violation, Trump voiced frustration over Israel’s response early this morning. Aboard Air Force One en route to the Netherlands, the president confirmed that Tel Aviv agreed to stop its retaliation.
“The cease-fire is very much in effect, and I think we’re going to keep it there for a long time,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.
At this year’s NATO summit, Trump is hoping to secure a higher defense spending commitment from member countries, an issue he has hammered on for years.
The allies are expected to agree on a new defense spending target of 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for each member country, more than doubling the current 2 percent benchmark.
Trump has long been critical of NATO countries for not paying their fair share to the alliance. Since returning to the White House in January, he has renewed pressure on member states to meet higher defense-spending targets.
To address Trump’s concerns, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has proposed a two-tiered plan, which calls for allies to allocate 3.5 percent of GDP to core defense spending and an additional 1.5 percent to infrastructure and industrial capacity on an annual basis.
“I think we’re going to have stronger peace, better peace,” Trump told reporters, praising the new proposal.
“NATO was broke and I said, ‘you’re going to have to pay.’” Trump said, praising his own efforts, “Now they’re paying a lot.”
Spain is the only hold-out so far. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced last week that his country would not commit to the proposed 5 percent defense spending target.
On June 21, Sánchez said he had reached a deal with NATO to be excluded from the spending commitment.
Spain allocated nearly 1.3 percent of its GDP to defense in 2024, making it the alliance’s lowest spender.
“There’s a problem with Spain. Spain is not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of the people,” Trump said.
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