NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was "extremely optimistic" about the alliance's future he said on Tuesday (May 12), saying that this was actually 'because of" U.S. President Trump.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly made threats to pull out of NATO, following differing views on the war in Ukraine and most recently accusations by Trump ofsome NATO nations of not doing enough to support the United States in the Iran war. In a further ⁠sign of his discontent with European allies, the U.S. announced on Friday plans to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany.

"We have seen the whole of the alliance now on 2%, including the bigger economies like Canada, Spain, Belgium, and Italy, who were all not yet reaching the 2% at the beginning of last year, and I think the re-election of President Trump played a large role here," Rutte said at a press conference in Podgorica .

The NATO chief said that all member nations now met the alliance's defense spending requirement of 2% of GDP.

Rutte also addressed European responses to American requests for support in the Middle East. He said that France and Britain are leading an initiative involving 40 countries near the Strait of Hormuz as part of proposed ‌framework to formally end the war.

France and Britain have been working on a proposal for several weeks that aims to lay the groundwork for safe transit through the Strait once the situation stabilises or the conflict is resolved. It would need coordination with Iran and a dozen countries have indicated a willingness to take part in the mission following several preparatory meetings.

European states have been largely onlookers in the conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran, but with shipping lanes in the Middle East impacted and the price of oil fluctuating around $100 a barrel, European powers are grappling with the issue of how to defend their interests.

Their refusal to support U.S. President Donald Trump's blockade has drawn sharp criticism from Trump against countries he accused of failing to align with U.S.-led efforts and the move to send assets to the region may be a way to assuage those concerns.

Tensions are especially high between Trump and the Europeans since he joined Israel in striking Iran on February 28, claiming without evidence that Tehran was close to developing a nuclear weapon. Iran’s retaliatory closure of the Strait of Hormuz unleashed an unprecedented global energy shock that has made European countries some of the biggest economic losers from a war they never asked for.

Even before that, Trump had rattled allies by imposing sweeping tariffs, pushing to take over Greenland from Denmark and cutting military aid to Ukraine.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

PODGORICA, MONTENEGRO (MAY 12, 2026) (NATO TV-Access all)

1. NATO SECRETARY GENERAL MARK RUTTE AND MONTENEGRO'S PRIME MINISTER MILOJKO SPAJIC DURING PRESS CONFERENCE

2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NATO'S SECRETARY GENERAL, MARK RUTTE, SAYING:

“When it comes to the more fundamental question of NATO's future, I'm extremely optimistic. And I'm extremely optimistic because of President Trump. Because let's look at what happened last year. We have seen the whole of the alliance now on 2%, including the bigger economies like Canada, Spain, Belgium, and Italy, who were all not yet reaching the 2% at the beginning of last year, and I think the re-election of President Trump played a large role here.”

3. PRESS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NATO'S SECRETARY GENERAL, MARK RUTTE, SAYING:

“Of course, there are discussions, I know. One, of course, is about Iran and how we can make sure that allies in Europe, when it comes to the next phase, will be able to help with the situation, for example, in the Strait of Hormuz. This is exactly what the Americans asked for. And what we are seeing now is the French and the Brits leading this initiative, 40 countries coming together again today. And what I am seeing at the moment is that there is a massive amount of activity now to pre-position, not of course in the Strait itself, but close to theater, critical capabilities necessary for that next phase. So that's one issue in the short term. Here we clearly see that the Europeans have heard the American president and are responding.”

5. SPAJIC SPEAKING

6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NATO'S SECRETARY GENERAL, MARK RUTTE, SAYING:

“So I think you could argue that NATO is extremely strong at the moment, is now implementing all these decisions from The Hague. We are going into the Ankara summit, which will very much focus, of course, on Ukraine, keeping them as strong as possible, but also on getting this money now translated into the critical capabilities we need to develop, that means also developing our defense industrial base, which is great, but not producing enough, not in the U.S., not in Europe. This is a joint problem we are facing and which we have to work on together with our defense industries on both sides of the Atlantic, and that will be one of the main issues we will discuss in Ankara.”

7. RUTTE AND SPAJIC SHAKING HANDS/ RUTTE AND SPAJIC POSING FOR PHOTO