The reason Trump is spending as little time as possible at the Nato summit
Donald Trump will spend as little time as possible on European soil next week when he heads to a crucial Nato summit for just 24 hours.
He was set to arrive in The Hague on Monday evening before returning to Washington on Wednesday, but the White House says he will now arrive on Tuesday.
A week after he left a meeting of the G7 in Canada early, apparently irritated at having to sit through a meeting on wildfires when his mind was on the Middle East, it will raise fears among allies that he has no time for the sorts of summits that underpin international diplomacy.
Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, said the shortened trip was not a snub, but a reflection of how Nato has tightened the schedule.
'The president is a man of efficiency. He wants to get things done,' she said. 'More action, less talk.'
Mr Trump has expressed his irritation with Nato in the past, even threatening to withdraw the US in protest at the way allies were shirking spending targets.
But relations have improved in recent years as member states have accepted Mr Trump's arguments.
His new schedule means he will still arrive in time for a leaders' dinner and will attend a session devoted to discussing allies' efforts to spend the equivalent of five percent of their gross domestic product on defence.
'He wants to see that happen,' said Ms Leavitt.
At the same time, the tight turnaround reflects Mr Trump's impatience with big, multilateral groups.
The president upended this week's G7 summit in Kananaski, Canada, hurrying home on Monday night to deal with the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.
He had hinted at his frustration as he addressed the media beside Sir Keir Starmer during the afternoon.
He was asked about the chances of reaching a deal with Iran and said: 'As soon as we leave here we are going to do something. But I have to leave here. I have, you know, this commitment. I have a lot of commitments.'
With the Middle East in flames, he then had to sit through a session on tackling wildfires.
A former White House official said: 'He already thinks these meetings are a waste of time. I think you can see the timeline of a wildfire meeting followed by the announcement that he was leaving and draw your own conclusions.'
Nato had already accounted for Mr Trump's mercurial nature, condensing its format from three sessions to a single two-and-a-half-hour meeting.
Ms Leavitt said the president's travel plans simply reflected that shift.
'Nato has shortened its schedule,' she said. 'The president is rolling with the schedule that Nato has given us.'
Organisers have shortened the summit and drafted an abbreviated joint statement in part to avoid a repeat of Mr Trump's last Nato meeting. In 2019, he left early, abandoning a planned press conference after other leaders were caught on camera joking about him.
Brett Bruen, a former Obama official and president of the Global Situation Room, said the shortened trips were 'becoming a pattern.'
'He may not want to sit through a session on wildfires but it is the prerogative of the host of any of these summits to decide the agenda,' he said.
More to the point, side meetings and other interactions were the place where a lot of business got done.
He said: 'If we are no longer to use summits for substance then I think it begs the question: Where else are leaders getting together?'
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