>>176106, >>176107, >>176108, >>176109, >>176110, >>176111, >>176112, >>176113, >>176114, >>176115, >>176116, >>176117, >>176118, >>176119, >>176120, >>176121, >>176122, >>176123, >>176124, >>176125, >>176126, >>176127, >>176128, >>176129, >>176130, >>176131, >>176132, >>176133, >>176134, >>176135, >>176136, >>176137, >>176138, >>176139, >>176140, >>176141, >>176142, >>176143, >>176144, >>176145, >>176146, >>176147, >>176148, >>176149, >>176150, >>176151, >>176152, >>176153, >>176154, >>176155, >>176156, >>176157, >>176158, >>176159, >>176160, >>176161, >>176162, >>176163, >>176164, >>176165, >>176166, >>176167, >>176168, >>176169, >>176170, >>176171, >>176172, >>176173, >>176174, >>176175, >>176176, >>176177, >>176178
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump - Video: Mark Rutte: My relationship with the President, hey listen, if somebody is doing good stuff, and President Trump is doing a lot of good stuff, I believe, I know, I'm irritating a lot of you again, but I think so.
Because, as I said also in Davos, the 2% reach by all NATO countries now at the end of 2025 would never ever, ever have happened without Trump.
Do you really think that Spain and Italy and Belgium and Canada would have decided to move from 1.5 to 2%?
Italy spending 10 billion more now on defense at the beginning of the year without President Trump?
No way! it would not have happened.
And do you really think that in The Hague we would have come to the 5% commitment without President Trump?
No way. So when President Trump is doing good stuff, I will praise him.
And I don't mind him publishing text messages. And if anyone thinks here, again, that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming.
You can't. We can't. We need each other. And why do we need each other?
I tell you.
First of all, because also the US needs NATO.
For the US to stay safe, and by the way, Arctic region is evidence here, they need a secure Arctic, they need a secure Euro-Atlantic, and they also need a secure Europe.
So the US has every interest in NATO as much as Canada and the European NATO allies.
But for Europe, if you really want to go it alone - and those of you who are planning for that - forget that you can ever get there with 5%.
It will be 10%. You have to build up your own nuclear capability.
That costs billions, billions and billions of euros, you will lose then, in that scenario, you would lose the ultimate guarantor of our freedom, which is the U.S. nuclear umbrella.