The 2025 Nato Summit primarily revolves around US President Donald Trump. As the conflict in Ukraine fades into the background and allies are marginalized, the summit has largely become a means to appease Trump through a commitment to boost defense expenditures.
Despite the fact that US President Donald Trump will only be in The Hague for a mere 24 hours, the upcoming Nato Summit is expected to revolve entirely around him.
Trump has influenced the agenda, the length, and even the leisurely activities planned for the summit, which is scheduled to commence on Tuesday and conclude on Wednesday.
Although European nations constitute the majority of Nato’s membership, their primary concern regarding Russian aggression is anticipated to take a backseat during the summit. Instead, the emphasis will be on detailing how Nato members will increase their defence spending to 5 percent of their GDP.
The Nato Summit 2025 is poised to prioritize not only America First but also Trump First, with the concerns of allies likely relegated to a secondary position.
Trump’s influence on the Nato Summit is evident — quite literally.
In an effort to appease Trump, who has consistently criticized allies over the years, the Nato Summit 2025 will witness members formally pledging to elevate defence spending to 5 percent of GDP, as reported by The Daily Telegraph.
Given Trump’s notoriously short attention span, the number of sessions has been condensed from three to a single three-hour session, and the joint statement has been streamlined to just one page to ensure that Trump can actually read it, according to the newspaper.
In an attempt to prevent Trump from discarding the abbreviated joint statement, officials have reduced it to a single page that will predominantly focus on the commitment of Nato members to increase defence spending to 5 percent of GDP, as stated in the report.
Considering Trump’s affinity for golf — he has spent the majority of his weekends golfing during his second term — the organizers had initially intended to incorporate a round of golf; however, Trump’s brief visit has made this impossible.
Despite these efforts to tailor the Nato Summit to his preferences, Trump is expected to miss most of the scheduled engagements, attending only a dinner hosted by the Dutch king and queen on Tuesday evening and one session on Wednesday before departing after a press conference, as indicated in the report.
Trump’s focus on boosting defence spending has effectively marginalized Ukraine’s presence at the Nato Summit, even as the conflict continues to escalate.
As the bloc comes together to address Trump, the organisers have not extended an invitation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the three-hour session scheduled for tomorrow, which Trump will attend.
The summit will primarily focus on detailing how NATO members plan to increase their defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP. This will encompass core defence spending of 3.5 per cent of GDP, along with an additional 1.5 per cent of GDP allocated for related expenditures, including strategic infrastructure and cyberdefence.
Jamie Shea, a former NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General, informed the Guardian that the meeting is likely to be “disappointing for Ukraine, particularly since most allies would have preferred much stronger language regarding support, a clear invitation for Ukraine’s NATO membership, and a more defined approach to sanctions against Russia.”
Shea suggested that the summit aims to shift the nature of support for Ukraine from being US-centric to a more Europe-centric approach.
Nevertheless, despite Europe’s recent efforts to increase support, it remains impossible to compensate for the lost assistance in terms of funding and weaponry from the United States.
