There had been multiple competing agendas leading up to the summit, with Southern European members concerned with security in North Africa and the Middle East and the
European migrant crisis and Eastern European members concerned more about Russia's policies. There was also concern about the
Russia–Turkey relationship.
Donald Trump, the President of the United States, urged the NATO members to meet the 2014 agreement to seek to spend at least two percent of their gross domestic product on defense. According to at least one senior
White House official, Donald Trump had expressed interest in inviting Russia to the
G7 summit and was considering leaving the NATO alliance. During the opening ceremony of the new NATO headquarters building, President Trump gave a speech which did not mention Article 5 of the
North Atlantic Treaty, surprising
H. R. McMaster, the
National Security Advisor,
James Mattis, the
United States Secretary of Defense, and
Rex Tillerson, the
United States Secretary of State, who had approved a different speech that explicitly included the
collective security commitment. ==Accomplishments==