President Trump’s Tacit NATO Killing

By Peter Koenig

The NATO Summit of The Hague, 24-25 June 2025 has come and gone.

However, the scene of the infamous Sumit reverberates with many uncertainties, illusions for some, deceptions for others.

At the outset, it looks like President Trump came to The Hague with the idea of shaping a NATO that vibrates to his liking and – indeed – to the liking of his European (vassal) allies.

But was that really so? President Trump came with the glorious, and extravagant idea to increase European military spending from an earlier NATO request to 2% of GDP – which most EU NATO allies did not meet – to increase it to 5% of GDP. Yes, you read right; fully 5% of GDP.

This means of course suffering for social sectors – education, health, basic infrastructure – as these are always the first ones to be cut. In some countries even so-called guaranteed state pensions may be put on the cutting board, to the detriment of workers mostly.

But people have nothing to say in the dictatorial European Union. Nobody wants war. Literally 99% of the people want Peace, do not want to go to war, and least against Russia. Yet, the unelected tyranny in Brussels decides over their heads that their money must be spent to make the armament industry even richer and to kill people, and especially to fight the “invented” archenemy, Russia.

In addition, how would a “united” Europe be able to accept such spendings, when their economy, through their own doing – and by instructions of the globalist Deep State [who they are is your own guess] is being suicided, decimated on purpose, by Germany and France – and all the other “minor EU states” are following suit?

This is the question, nobody dares to ask. Yet, with a miserable economic growth of an annual average of less than 1.6%, since 2021, the US mandate is increasing war-spending from an already exaggerated 2% to 5% of GDP, and the puppets accept, minus Spain’s PM Sanchez. Spain is currently spending 2.1% on their military budget, already too much for Spain’s faltering economy, projected to growth at a halting 2.4% in 2025 (Bank of Spain).

Mr. Trump, however, was quick to warn Pedro Sanchez of sanctions in the form of double the taxes “we are currently negotiating”. This could amount to 50% import duties on all imports from Spain. This, he muttered with one of those Trump-grins of Schadenfreude (epicaricacy), will cost him more than the 5% military budget.

After the Covid contraction of 2020, apparently the EU economy flourished with 5.2% growth in 2021, falling to 3.4% in 2022, followed by 0.5% in 2023 and barely holding at 1% in 2024. This year, 2025 growth, is projected at 1.4%. This according to BusinessEurope.

Compare this to peace-seeking non-warmongering Asia, where many countries, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and not least China, have an annual average GDP growth of around 6% to 7%, or more.

NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, former PM of Holland and foremost the favored “child” of Klaus Schwab’s (former CEO WEF), Young Global Leaders (YGL), was doing whatever he could to please Trump. So, this almost unison EU-agreement to Trump’s extravagant request of 5% for defense spending (i.e., war spending), for a literally dying economic region which is the EU, may have come as a surprise to self-styled world emperor Trump.

He may have expected more backbone and counter-arguments from the Europeans to his bold 5% demand. But no.

In, what many analysts consider a sign of disgust [for Europe – which Trump seems to dislike profoundly], he left the NATO Summit early to fly to another farce summit, that of the hapless and outdated G7 in Canada.

Unlike in previous NATO Summits, Ukraine’s Zelensky was sidelined in The Hague, perhaps an indication that Ukraine, indeed, lost priority status for Washington.

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After Trump left, Rutte said, “This is a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance that NATO leaders have begun to build.” Rutte said it. NATO must be lethal – a killer force; nothing to do with Peace.

Mr. Rutte continued, “Trump made it clear: America is committed to NATO. But the president also made clear that America expects European allies and Canada to contribute more. And that is exactly what we see them doing.”

See more on the NATO summit, here https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-25/nato-leaders-endorse-historic-plan-to-boost-defense-spending .

>But did it occur to this bunch of bowing European leaders, including the new NATO Chief, that Trump, who had apparently not the kindest words for NATO on Air Force One, on the way over to The Hague, may have come with the idea to softly kill NATO, by presenting his so-called allies with a staggering 5% military budget demand?

But ever submissive Europe fell for it – which may have added – or confirmed – Trump’s disgust when he left the meeting early for another unimportant encounter in Canada.

Maybe to kill the beast, next time Trump must come with a demand to hike military spending to 10% of GDP. Would that be the final death knell for the useless, preposterous NATO killing machine?

An added benefit for all may be: Killing NATO would also mean the end of the European Union, NATO’s twin-sister.

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Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst, regular author for Global Research, and a former Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020).

Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.