Trump, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte speak to reporters in Oval Office

Total, how many of the 95,000 jobs being supported by investments? Investments from European companies into the United States, 83,000 jobs supported by that. Half of 12,000 jobs created by the fact that Europeans are massively spending, about half of all their defense spending when it comes to defense industry output, in the United States. A half of 12,000 jobs. Last year they spent 54 billion dollars on US defense industrial output. There is now an order catalog, or the backlog, of 300 billion. So, 300 billion dollars of defense spending from Europeans buying this in the US over the next couple of years, which is already on the order book. Last year 54 billion, a total now order book of 300 billion. Totalling almost 200,000. These are real jobs, real people like you. Like yesterday when you spoke in Pennsylvania, the people behind you. What I'm going to say, two things more if you allow. First of all, to get all of this done, we have to increase the defense industrial output. There is a big problem. The problem is that both the United States and in Europe we are not producing enough. Our stockpiles have to be replenished because of the war in Ukraine, what we do there, and for all the other reasons. You have taken leadership here. Last week you signed the defense procurement act. You made it possible for companies to work together to be able therefore to ramp up the defense production. You have been very harsh with them a couple of weeks ago and had one of them over in my office. Yeah, it was really tough. I had one of them over in my office. He was still trembling. But the CEO said, and the statistics are good. This is exactly what we need. Because we need this extra defense output. This is important for Europe, but I pointed all these jobs, of course, also many jobs being created in Europe and in Canada, but again, almost 200,000 here in the United States supported by all these investments. But it is about the defense industrial output, and this is also what the Ankara summit has to be about. The whole first day will be about defense industrial production because we can spend as much as we want, but we need the interceptors, the missiles, we need the tanks, we need the artificial intelligence, etc., etc. And this is what you are doing, doing that in the US, but also therefore putting all that pressure on the defense industrial base. And finally, you had the G7 last week. I think it was a big success. What you've seen there is that yes, you were president of the United States, but I want to make this point. For me, you are first of all the leader of the free world. In 2 weeks in Ankara, you will have not seven countries, you will have 42 countries, the 32 allies, US and all the 31, but also nine or 10 other countries from the Middle East, from the Indo-Pacific. And they want to hear your lead. You will provide it, I know this. This is what you do on Iran, this is what you do on defense industrial output, on spending, and all of this. You'll be the leader of the free world. And now we see it with Ukraine, the fact that Ukraine stays strong in the fight, that you still provide all the stuff they need, paid for by European and Canadian allies, fair enough, but very important for them to stay in the fight and all the other things the United States is doing. So, I'm really looking forward to that summit. I know that Erdogan, the president of Turkey, he looks forward to receiving his good friend Donald J. Trump. But I just wanted to tell this story because, ladies and gentlemen of the American media, this is important. This is your president, but also leader of the free world, taking the leadership role as is necessary.

To answer the second question, because I don't have many disagreements with the President on this. Here, I have to say because I do agree there's reason for disappointment, absolutely. But my argument is this, these are isolated cases. When you look at the overall picture, take for example Germany. From day one, they delivered on their bilateral commitments. These are bilateral commitments these countries are having with the United States, so this is not strictly speaking NATO. Bilateral commitments, they all did what they promised to do. And this leads to between four and five thousand US tanks taking off from Europe. I would argue it would have been very difficult to do Iran without having Europe as a power projection platform for the United States. Delivered. Again, he's right, there is also reason for disappointment. It is a mixed bag.

Well, when you look at the numbers, take for example Germany, so we agreed they get a couple of years together because you cannot spend it in one year because you have an absorption problem. But Germany for example, Germany has doubled, is doubling its defense spending between 2021 and 2029. They will spend over half of 50 billion by 2029, which is staggering, more than the French and the Brits combined even. Take the Dutch, and Poland and the Baltics already there. Countries like Denmark really stepping up, so and the Nordics, so it's a bit of a mixed bag, but most of them are doing it and the alliance is so much stronger because of this man.