In Brussels, Trump expected to end silence on NATO

President Donald Trump is expected to publicly endorse NATO's mutual defense commitment at a ceremony on Thursday at the alliance's headquarters, an administration official said, breaking months of silence about whether the United States would automatically come to the defense of an ally under attack.

Trump will make the promise in Brussels at the start of three days of meetings with European heads of state, according to the official, who was briefed on the president's planned remarks. The speech will come as Trump unveils a memorial to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the only time in the 28-nation military alliance's history that the mutual defense pledge, known as Article 5, has been invoked. Since his inauguration, Trump had repeatedly refused to endorse Article 5, a thunderous silence that rattled US allies and raised fears about NATO's future at a time of increasing tension with Russia and terrorist attacks like the one in Manchester, England, on Monday. Even before taking office, Trump expressed skepticism about the NATO's role in ensuring security on the European continent, and the financial costs that the United States bears in maintaining the alliance's military might.

In an interview with The New York Times just before officially claiming the Republican nomination last July, Trump said that if he was elected, the United States would come to the defense of the Baltic states against a Russian invasion only if those small countries spent more on their military and contributed more to the alliance.

"If they fulfill their obligations to us," Trump said in the interview, "the answer is yes."

The administration official said that Trump now appears ready to reassure NATO allies that the United States will not place conditions on its adherence to Article 5, which states the principle that an attack on any one member is an attack on all. NATO leaders who will meet on Thursday face other difficult questions as well, including how many troops the United States will contribute to replenish the alliance's forces fighting in Afghanistan. Right now, the international security force assisting the Afghan army has about 13,000 troops; about 8,400 of them are American. Trump is considering proposals to send as many as 5,000 more, including Special Operations forces.

Meanwhile, ahead of potentially tense meetings with NATO, Trump arrived on Wednesday in Brussels that headquarters the historic US-European military alliance — which he once described as a "hellhole" because of its immigration and refugee policies.

Trump is scheduled to leave Brussels on Thursday night. He completes his first foreign trip at the G-7 summit Friday and Saturday on the Italian island of Sicily. Agencies