The two-day Nato summit in The Hague has concluded with an agreement to raise defence and associated spending to a total of 5% over the next 10 years.

The 32 nations agreed in a declaration to invest 3.5% of GDP in military hardware, almost double the previous baseline of 2%, and another 1.5% in vital infrastructure such as transport, intelligence, power supplies and cybersecurity.

Nato countries will have until 2035 to reach the 3.5% target, with a review in 2029, in what secretary-general Mark Rutte described as a “quantum leap in our collective defence”.

The deal was seen as a diplomatic triumph for the former Dutch prime minister at his first Nato summit, balancing the Trump administration’s demands for its Nato partners to spend more on defence with European countries that were reluctant to meet the 5% target.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, who had objected to the 5% target before the summit, said he believed his country could honour the deal by raising its military spending to 2.1% of GDP and making up the difference by setting other targets.

Trump had cast doubt on the US’s commitment to Article 5, which requires all Nato members to respond collectively to an attack on any nation, if countries failed to match his demands, raising concerns that the future of the alliance was at stake in The Hague.

Praise for Trump

Rutte lavished praise on Trump during the two-day meeting, calling the American president “Daddy” and sending a SMS message while Trump was on his way to The Hague saying: “Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should and it will be your win!”

He defended his fulsome praise for the US president when questioned about his language, though he admitted it was a “question of taste”.

“Do you really think this would have been the result of this summit if he had not been re-elected president?” Rutte asked. “Doesn’t he deserve some praise?”

Trump said in his closing press conference that it was “quite unfair” that the US accounted for two-thirds of Nato’s defence budget and there was a “need for other Nato members to take up the burden of the defence of Europe and that includes the financial burden.”

“Since I began pushing for additional commitments in 2017, believe it or not, our allies have increased spending by $700 billion,” Trump added.

Heavy lifting

“In a very historic milestone this week, the Nato allies committed to dramatically increase their defence spending to that 5% of GDP, something that no-one really thought possible. They said ‘you did it, sir, you did it,’ and I don’t know if I did it but I think I did.”

Rutte said Europe and Canada would do “more of the heavy lifting” for Nato’s collective security, while Trump had affirmed the United States’ support for its allies “in no uncertain terms”.

“The decisions today will make Nato much stronger. They will also make Nato a fairer alliance, with Europe and Canada stepping up and carrying their fair share of the responsibility for our shared security,” Rutte said.

Commitment to Ukraine

“No-one should doubt our capacity or determination should our security be challenged. This is the stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance that Nato leaders have begun to build.”

The defence alliance also reaffirmed its “firm” and “continued” support for Ukraine and recognised the country’s “irreversible path to Nato membership”, with €35 billion already committed this year, Rutte said. For the first time the alliance defied Russia as a “long‑term threat to the future of Nato”.

“All of this is to keep Ukraine in the fight today so that it can enjoy a lasting peace in the future,” Rutte said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in The Hague during the summit but in a lower-key role than at previous meetings. He attended a dinner with Nato leaders on Tuesday evening hosted by king Willem-Alexander at Paleis Huis ten Bosch and addressed the Dutch parliament earlier in the day.

Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof said the outcome of the meeting and the commitments to closer co-operation between governments and the defence industry was “a great step forward”. “We have taken a few big decisions today,” he said.