North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders agreed to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP and renewed their “ironclad commitment” to mutual security in an historic move to push back against an increasingly belligerent Russia.
The decision during NATO’s high-stakes summit in The Hague is a win for US President Donald Trump who has repeatedly lambasted his European allies for underspending on security. It was also a victory for the alliance’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, who had worked for months to ensure the US renewed its Article 5 commitments on collective defense.
With all 32 members on track to meet the previous 2% target for the first time this year, the new goals promise to transform Europe’s militaries and the security architecture of the continent. Though whether all member states eventually reach those goals is an open question — Spain and Slovakia have already said they don't want to increase spending. — Jennifer Duggan
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Trump disputed an intelligence report that found the airstrikes he ordered on Iran had only a limited impact on its nuclear program, even though the assessment came from the Pentagon. “Nuclear sites in Iran are completely destroyed,” he said on Truth Social. Later, speaking to reporters at the NATO summit, the US president said the report was “very inconclusive” and that he still believed the sites were demolished.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with Trump at the NATO summit as he sought to persuade the US president to sell weapons to Ukraine. The encounter, which lasted for around 45 minutes, is their first since Ukraine and Russia resumed direct talks to try to end the war. Trump’s efforts to force through a deal to halt the fighting appeared to be making progress in May, but since then Russian President Vladimir Putin has defied US and European calls to accept a ceasefire and join negotiations in earnest.
Zelenskiy in The Hague. Photographer: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Apple is poised to offer further App Store changes to appease EU antitrust watchdogs who issued an ultimatum after doling out a €500 million fine. It is understood the iPhone maker’s proposal — due by June 26 — would make it easier for third-party developers to direct customers away from the Apple ecosystem to make software purchases. The European Commission had been readying a formal charge sheet had the Cupertino-based company opted against filing a proposal by tomorrow’s deadline.
Switzerland and the US are at odds on the agreed price for three dozen F-35A fighter jets the country wants to buy from Lockheed Martin, adding to existing tensions over US tariffs. The Swiss government said today that a price was set in the purchase deal, but that US officials have now said that this is a “misunderstanding” and the planes will cost more. Switzerland didn’t procure the fighter jets directly from Lockheed Martin, but via the US government.
Europe’s car market picked up slightly in May, as robust demand for electric and hybrid vehicles helped offset the drag from a patchy economy hit by global trade tensions. New-car registrations rose 1.9% last month from a year earlier to 1.11 million units, according to European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association data. Gains in major markets such as Germany, the UK and Spain lifted the overall numbers, even as France weighed on the total.
A long-delayed plan to build a hydropower plant on the Ruzizi River between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo received a boost amid US-backed peace talks between the two countries. Anzana Electric Group will team up with Rwanda-registered Ruzizi III Holding Power to construct the 206-megawatt project. It will join two other plants located on the river that divides Congo’s South Kivu province from Rwanda’s Rusizi District.
Deutsche Boerse is understood to have added more banks to a potential $1 billion initial public offering of its governance data and analytics unit ISS Stoxx. It is weighing whether to list a stake held by a private equity firm or buy it back. The German stock exchange operator is said to have selected Bank of America, Berenberg, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies Financial and Societe Generale to work in junior roles on a listing of the division. A potential IPO could come as soon as the second half of 2025.
