THE HAGUE — President Donald Trump on Wednesday hailed a NATO pledge to boost defence spending to five percent of gross domestic product annually as a "monumental" win for his country.

 

"It's a monumental win for the United States, because we were carrying much more than our fair share," Trump told reporters after the summit of the 32 NATO countries.

 

 

He lauded NATO's "tremendous" summit in the Hague as leaders wrapped up a meeting that saw the alliance back his demand to ramp up defence spending.

 

"I think the summit was fantastic. It was a big success," Trump told Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof.

 

NATO allies declared Russia a "long-term threat" to their collective security in a joint summit statement that also affirmed their "enduring" support for Ukraine.

 

The alliance's 32 countries said they stood "united in the face of profound security threats and challenges, in particular the long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security" in a declaration adopted in The Hague.

 

"Allies reaffirm their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine, whose security contributes to ours," they said.

 

Meanwhile, the 32 NATO allies stressed their unwavering commitment to mutual defence, a founding principle of the alliance that US President Donald Trump had appeared to question.

 

"We reaffirm our ironclad commitment to collective defence as enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty -- that an attack on one is an attack on all," the leaders said in a summit declaration

 

NATO leaders committed to spend five per cent of annual output on defence by 2035, seen as vital to counter the threat from Russia and keep US President Donald Trump engaged with the alliance.

 

"Allies commit to invest five per cent of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence- and security-related spending by 2035," the 32 countries said in a joint summit statement.

 

Meanwhile , NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that the United States was "totally committed" to the alliance's Article Five mutual defence clause, after President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on it.

 

"For me, there is absolute clarity that the United States is totally committed to NATO, totally committed to Article Five," Rutte told reporters ahead of a summit meeting of alliance leaders.