The NATO alliance has grown in the wake of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, as Finland joined the alliance in 2023 and Sweden became its 32nd member in March. In a pair of European trips this month, Biden argued that, contrary to the arguments of his political adversaries, the United States would be foolish to isolate itself from major European conflicts.
“The best way to avoid these kinds of battles in the future is to stay strong with our allies,” Biden said during a trip to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France while commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day. “I think there’s a new rise and a sense of some within the country of wanting to let that slip, the idea that we become semi-isolationist now, which some are talking about. … It’s not who we are.”
His words were a not-so-subtle reference to Trump’s foreign policy. Trump has said he would not protect NATO allies who spend too little on their own defense, remarks Biden has called “dangerous” and “un-American.”
At the upcoming summit, participants will celebrate NATO’s 75-year history and its decades-long successes in serving as a bulwark against the Soviet Union and now Russia.
But the gathering also will pose a big test for Biden, as many allies are unhappy with his reluctance to let Ukraine attack targets in Russia, while others are frustrated with his staunch backing of Israel’s invasion of Gaza. The summit could also attract large-scale pro-Palestinian protests. Such demonstrations have erupted at almost every international gathering and Biden appearance in recent months, and a large summit of military powers in the U.S. capital is unlikely to be an exception.
Stoltenberg on Monday touted increased European defense spending and said the continent was a strong partner in Washington’s efforts to keep the world safe. He said that 23 of NATO’s 32 members are now meeting the alliance’s defense spending targets of 2 percent of their nation’s gross domestic product, up from seven just five years ago.
“The number has more than doubled … since I took office,” Biden said during remarks with Stoltenberg from the Oval Office. “And we look forward to building on all of this progress next month.”
Stoltenberg, who has been secretary general since 2014, has made it clear that he agrees with Biden’s emphasis on the importance of the transatlantic alliance. “Twice when Europe has been at war, the USA chose isolationism — and twice it realized this didn’t work,” he said at an event at the Wilson Center, a foreign affairs research group in D.C., before his meeting with Biden.
How that sentiment plays out in daily decisions as the war in Ukraine enters its third summer fighting season will be a chief topic among the leaders headed to D.C. Many NATO leaders have been frustrated at Biden’s reluctance to give Ukraine more latitude to strike military targets inside Russia.
Last month, Biden signed off on letting Ukrainian commanders use U.S.-provided weaponry against limited military targets inside Russia, authorizing them to hit back against Russian forces that are attacking Ukrainian soldiers, or preparing to attack them, in and around the city of Kharkiv, near the border in northeast Ukraine.
But a set of European elections in the days leading up to the NATO summit could weaken some countries’ arguments against Biden. French President Emmanuel Macron, a leading advocate of further empowering Ukraine, could be significantly weakened by parliamentary elections. That means he would arrive in Washington not as a leader who will push NATO forward, but as a warning symbol to others about the far right’s potential to swing foreign policy more toward Russia’s interests.
The United Kingdom is also set to hold elections less than a week before the summit starts, and its ruling Conservative Party is expected to fare poorly. A new government is unlikely to have a dramatically different Ukraine policy, but an incoming prime minister might not be prepared to immediately pressure Biden, said Ivo Daalder, U.S. ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama.
“The countries most likely to push hard to do more on Ukraine are going to be significantly weakened because of European elections,” Daalder said. “That changes a lot of the situation.”
Biden has also taken a number of actions to reaffirm U.S. support of Ukraine. Vice President Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan traveled to Switzerland last week for a Ukraine peace summit, where Harris announced more than $1.5 billion in aid for Ukraine’s energy sector and humanitarian efforts.
The United States also widened its sanctions against Russia last week to include Chinese defense companies that help Russia pursue its war against Ukraine. And when Biden was at the Group of Seven summit in Italy last week, he held a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after the two leaders signed a 10-year security agreement.
Still, the White House has been clear that it wants to minimize conversations at the summit about Ukraine’s prospective membership in NATO, offering general assurances but no concrete timeline.
In the coming weeks, NATO leaders are expected to take other actions to bolster the alliance against potential policy changes by Trump, should he win the 2024 election. They are planning to move the coordination of arms assistance to Ukraine, shifting it to NATO from its current role with the U.S. military, for example.
NATO allies also have sought to show that the alliance benefits the United States, in hopes of rebuffing arguments from a wing of the Republican Party that contends that NATO, and European defense in general, is a sap on U.S. resources rather than a boost.
“NATO is good for U.S. security, good for U.S. industry and good for U.S. jobs,” Stoltenberg said Monday. “Over the last two years, more than two-thirds of European defense acquisitions were made with U.S. firms. That is more than $140 billion worth of contracts for U.S. defense companies.”
Whatever debates unfold inside the high-level meeting are likely to be matched by vociferous protests outside. International gatherings such as the NATO summit are often a magnet for demonstrators who want to express their dissatisfaction with the president’s policies, and that has become even more true in recent months.
Since Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Biden has stressed that his commitment to the country is ironclad, even as the number of civilians casualties have mounted. Critics, including American liberals and many Western leaders, have accused him of supporting a scorched-earth invasion that has left more than 37,000 Palestinians dead. Biden has faced protests over his support of Israel for months — everywhere from his childhood home in Scranton, Pa., to the streets of Paris.
D.C. leaders have not said how many demonstrators they are expecting. Last year, ahead of the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, protests against NATO were held in several European countries. The year before, thousands of demonstrators flocked to Madrid.
Police and city leaders in Washington said they are working with federal authorities to launch a robust law enforcement response to the event, noting that they are used to hosting large summits, conferences and other events with significant security needs.
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser will activate the city’s Emergency Operations Center to help coordinate law enforcement’s response to the event, officials said at a news conference last week.
Federal and local law enforcement also plan to set up a security perimeter and checkpoints around the Walter E. Washington Convention Center through the duration of the summit, probably snarling vehicular and pedestrian traffic and causing public transportation disruptions around the convention center, Carnegie Library and Mount Vernon Square.
Residents will be able to get into their homes and businesses, city leaders said, but may have to undergo security screening. Police said they plan to contact potentially affected businesses in the weeks leading up to the summit.
Jenny Gathright and Peter Hermann contributed to this report.
