Trump proclaims NATO success

BRUSSELS -- In a chaotic 28 hours at NATO, President Donald Trump disparaged longtime allies, cast doubt on his commitment to the mutual-defense organization and sent the 29-member pact into frenzied emergency session. Then, in a head-snapping pivot at the end, on Thursday he declared the alliance a "fine-tuned machine" -- one caving to his demands to speed up increases in military spending.

Trump claimed member nations had agreed to significantly boost their defense budgets and reaffirmed -- after days of griping the U.S. was being taken advantage of by its allies -- the U.S. remains faithful to the accord. "The United States' commitment to NATO remains very strong," Trump told reporters at a surprise news conference following an emergency session of NATO members held to address his threats.

There were no immediate specifics on what Trump said he had achieved, and French President Emmanuel Macron quickly disputed Trump's claim NATO allies had agreed to boost defense spending beyond their existing goal of 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2024.

"There is a communique that was published yesterday. It's very detailed," Macron said. "It confirms the goal of 2 percent by 2024. That's all."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the leaders had agreed "that we need to deliver on our commitments. There's new sense of urgency, and all allies agreed to redouble their efforts."

"This is about making sure that we deliver on our commitments and that we continue to add more billions to our defense budgets," he said.

And German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed, Germany was already working to increase its spending before Trump's push.

"I made clear that we know that we have to do more and that we have been doing so for quite a while," she said. "That turning point has long been initiated."

Trump had spent his time in Brussels berating members of the military alliance for failing to spend enough of their money on defense, accusing Europe of freeloading off the U.S. and raising doubts about whether he would come to members' defense if they were attacked.

Trump said he made his anger clear to allies Wednesday.

"Yesterday I let them know that I was extremely unhappy with what was happening," Trump said, adding, in response, European countries agreed to boost their spending.

"They have substantially upped their commitment and now we're very happy and have a very, very powerful, very, very strong NATO," he said.

Painting a rosy portrait before he left Brussels, Trump added: "I can you tell you that NATO now is a really a fine-tuned machine. People are paying money that they never paid before. They're happy to do it. And the United States is being treated much more fairly.

Then, Trump moved on to the United Kingdom, where significant protests against him were expected. Although Trump administration officials point to the longstanding alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom, Trump's itinerary in England will largely keep him out of central London, the center of the protests.

Instead, a series of events -- a black-tie dinner with business leaders, a meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May and an audience with Queen Elizabeth II -- were set outside the bustling city, where Mayor Sadiq Khan has been in a verbal battle with Trump.

Trump brushed off the protests, saying, "I think they like me a lot in the U.K. I think they agree with me on immigration. I'm very strong on immigration."

At NATO, Trump did not specify which countries had committed to what, and it remained unclear whether any had changed their plans. He suggested an accelerated timeline, saying nations would be "spending at a much faster clip." That would mark a significant milestone for the alliance.

"Some are at 2 percent, others have agreed definitely to go to 2 percent, and some are going back to get the approval, and which they will get to go to 2 percent," he said.

U.S. leaders for decades have pushed NATO allies to spend more on defense in an effort to more equitably share the collective defense burden.

NATO countries in 2014 set a goal of moving toward spending 2 percent of their gross domestic products on defense within 10 years. NATO has estimated only 15 members, or just more than half, will meet the benchmark by 2024 based on current trends.

Macron, in his own news conference, seemed to reject Trump's claim NATO powers had agreed to increases beyond previous targets. He said the allies had confirmed their intention to meet the goal of 2 percent by 2024 and no more.

The emergency session came amid reports Trump had threatened to leave the pact if allies didn't immediately up their spending. Officials said no explicit threat was made.

"President Trump never at any moment, either in public or in private, threatened to withdraw from NATO," Macron said.

Still, Trump confirmed the fears of NATO officials and allies as he sent the carefully orchestrated summit into chaos. Thursday, Trump arrived late to the official meetings, missed scheduled sit-downs with two allies on the margins of the summit, and skipped part of a session on the NATO mission in Afghanistan to hold the impromptu news conference.

Trump had taken an aggressive tone during the summit, questioning the value of an alliance defining decades of American foreign policy, torching an ally and proposing a massive increase in European defense spending.

Earlier Thursday, Trump called out U.S. allies on Twitter, saying, "Presidents have been trying unsuccessfully for years to get Germany and other rich NATO Nations to pay more toward their protection from Russia."

He complained the United States "pays tens of Billions of Dollars too much to subsidize Europe" and demanded member nations reach their goal to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense, which "must ultimately go to 4%!"

Under fire for his warm embrace of Russia's Vladimir Putin, Trump on Wednesday also turned a harsh spotlight on Germany's own ties to Russia, alleging a natural gas pipeline venture with Moscow has left Merkel's government "totally controlled" and "captive" to Russia.

He continued the attack Thursday, complaining "Germany just started paying Russia, the country they want protection from, Billions of Dollars for their Energy needs coming out of a new pipeline from Russia."

"Not acceptable!" he railed before arriving late at NATO headquarters.