29 May, 2017
Footage showing the leaders caught Trump pushing his way past Prime Minister Dusko Markovic, then confidently adjusting his suit as he emerged in the front of the group, closer to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation head Jens Stoltenberg.
The contrast with an upbeat Mideast visit, including a trip to Saudi Arabia in which he did big deals with no mention of human rights concerns, was striking.
In a sign of growing frustration felt by EU leaders, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, speaking after meeting Trump in Brussels, defended European defense spending saying "Europe is taking on greater responsibility on defense".
The rebuke comes amid a backdrop of uncertainty in Brussels toward Trump over his past comments publicly cheering the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union last summer and slamming the alliance during his transition as "a vehicle for Germany".
"This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States, and many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years", Trump said as the other leaders stood in awkward silence.
Other NATO leaders wanted him to "express a commitment to Article 5 of the NATO charter, which says that an attack on one nation is an attack on all nations", Tamara reports.
Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, appeared to snicker to French President Emmanuel Macron while covering his mouth. The small former Yugoslav republic is slated to become NATO's 29th member next month.
"I think you can expect the president to be very tough on them", Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters travelling with Trump.
British Prime Minister Theresa May also took Trump to task over USA intelligence leaks from the probe into this week's deadly Manchester bombing. Trump had suggested this could depend on when allies paid their dues.
Ex-Soviet states Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and former Soviet satellite Poland have all anxiously turned to the trans-Atlantic alliance since President Vladimir Putin's Russian Federation annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Questions swirled about why figures including U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson did not rule out before the summit at an explicit declaration of support.
Asked about Trump not explicitly affirming US support for Article 5, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said: "It goes without saying".
NATO's chief affirmed that the alliance countries will join the worldwide coalition fighting the Islamic State extremist group but will not wage direct war against the extremists.
