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President Donald Trump took part in a flurry of greetings with world leaders eager to get face time with the U.S. president during his brief stint at the NATO Summit.
Upon arriving, the president was welcomed by Dutch royals — King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima, and their daughter Crown Princess Amalia. He became the first president to stay at the king’s palace, Huis ten Bosch Palace.
"I had breakfast with the king and queen this morning — beautiful people," Trump said. "I slept beautifully."
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He participated in photo ops with world leaders from across the political spectrum — friend and foe alike — and received fawning praise from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who likened him to the father of the alliance.
"Daddy has to sometimes use strong language," Rutte said in defense of Trump’s expletive-laden criticism of Israel and Iran for threatening the ceasefire he negotiated.
President Donald Trump, left, speaks to NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte during a North Atlantic Council plenary meeting during the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (AP Photo Kin Cheung, Pool)
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President Donald Trump, right, speaks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a group photo of NATO heads of state and government at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
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President Donald Trump speaks to Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the start of a plenary session at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
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U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, June 25, 2025. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
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President Donald Trump meets with Netherlands' Prime Minister Dick Schoof on the sidelines of a NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte attend a plenary session at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
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President Donald Trump greets Poland's President Andrzej Duda during a plenary session at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte as he arrives for a NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (Piroschka Van De Wouw, Pool Photo via AP)
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President Donald Trump is greeted by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (right) and Netherland Prime Minister Dick Schoof (left) at the official welcoming ceremony for the 2025 NATO Summit at The Hague on June 25, 2025. (AP Images)
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President Donald Trump greets Latvia's Foreign Minister Baiba Braze before the start of a plenary session of the NATO Heads of State and Government summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool Photo via AP)
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President Donald Trump greets North Macedonia's President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova ahead of a plenary session at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives at a dinner for NATO heads of states and government on the sidelines of a NATO summit, at Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 24, 2025. (Reuters/Toby Melville)
The president was riding high amid warming relations with the alliance he previously threatened to pull out of. After months of combativeness with Europe over defense spending and liberal policies, Trump praised the alliance for agreeing to his demand to raise its defense spending target to 5% of GDP.
"Believe it or not, allies have increased spending by $700 billion," Trump said in a news conference. "This week, the NATO allies committed to dramatically increase their defense spending to that 5% of GDP, something that no one really thought possible."
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Even Spain — the only nation not to agree to commit 5% to defense — got a relatively mild drubbing from the president.
"I like Spain. I have so many people from Spain. It's a great place, and they're great people. But Spain is … the only country out of all of the countries that refuses to pay. And, you know, so they want a little bit of a free ride," he said.
It was certainly a different tone from Vice President JD Vance’s address at the Munich Security Conference.
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"The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It's not China. It's not any other external actor," Vance said at the time. "What I worry about is the threat from within the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America."
