The summit is expected to endorse a higher defence spending goal of 5% of GDP - a response to a demand by Trump and to Europeans' fears that Russia poses an increasingly direct threat to their security following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“There is absolute conviction with my colleagues at the table that given this threat from the Russians, given the international security situation, there is no alternative,“ he told reporters on Wednesday morning.
Trump has threatened not to protect NATO members if they fail to meet spending targets and he raised doubts about his commitment again on his way to the summit by avoiding directly endorsing the alliance's Article 5 mutual defence clause.
The new target - to be achieved over the next 10 years - is a big increase on the current goal of 2% of GDP, although it will be measured differently. It would amount to hundreds of billions of dollars in extra annual spending.
All NATO members have backed a statement enshrining the target, although Spain declared it does not need to meet the goal. Madrid says it can meet its military commitments to NATO by spending much less - a view disputed by Rutte.
UNUSUAL INSIGHT INTO SUMMIT DIPLOMACY
“You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done,“ Rutte told Trump.
To satisfy Trump, Rutte has also kept the summit and its final statement short and focused on the spending pledge.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had to settle for a seat at the pre-summit dinner on Tuesday evening rather than a seat at the main meeting on Wednesday, although Trump said he would probably meet with Zelenskiy separately.
The Kremlin accused NATO of being on a path of rampant militarisation and portraying Russia as a “fiend of hell” in order to justify its big increase in defence spending.
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