The U.S. president, while flying aboard Air Force One en route to The Hague, published a screenshot of a private message from Rutte saying: "Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe and the world. You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done."
"Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win," Rutte wrote. NATO confirmed that he sent the message.
The allies are likely to endorse a goal of spending 5% of their gross domestic product on their security, to be able to fulfil the alliance's plans for defending against outside attack. Still, Spain has said it cannot, and that the target is "unreasonable." Trump has said the U.S. should not have to.
Slovakia said that it reserves the right to decide how to reach the target by NATO's new 2035 deadline.
"There's a problem with Spain. Spain is not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them, frankly," Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way to the two-day meeting.
NATO's first summit with Trump, in 2018, unraveled due to a dispute over defense spending.
Ahead of the meeting, Britain, France and Germany committed to the 5% goal. Host country the Netherlands is also onboard. Nations closer to the borders of Ukraine, Russia and its ally Belarus had previously pledged to do so.
