标签： Europe

BRUSSELS — Ahead of a pivotal gathering of NATO defense ministers that he will chair this week, alliance Secretary-General Mark Rutte has sought to ease allied anxiety over the Trump administration’s decision to scale back the U.S. military contribution to collective defense contingency plans for Europe.

On June 3, the Pentagon notified NATO partners that the United States would no longer commit a suite of high-value military assets — including an aircraft carrier and its accompanying support vessels, aerial refueling tankers, and dozens of fighter jets — to European defense in the event of a crisis triggered under Article 5 of NATO’s founding charter. In response to this shift, NATO’s American supreme allied commander has begun developing alternative contingency plans to rebalance alliance defense posturing across the continent.

Rutte was quick to frame the adjustment as a procedural update to planning, not a drawdown of existing U.S. military presence on the continent. “This is not about where forces and assets are currently located,” Rutte told reporters Wednesday, clarifying that the change only revises commitments for when collective defense plans are activated. “It’s about who would do what if our defense plans were activated. So, let’s say in case of an Article 5 situation.”

Article 5, the cornerstone of NATO’s collective security guarantee, binds the alliance’s 32 member states to treat an armed attack on one ally as an attack on all. While the provision does not legally mandate any member to deploy military force, a broad majority of allies would typically contribute to a collective response. The U.S. currently maintains the largest military force and most expansive defense capabilities across the alliance, and the Trump administration has confirmed it has no plans to withdraw U.S. nuclear weapons deployed in Europe — a core component of NATO’s nuclear deterrence strategy. The shift in commitments comes as the U.S. reorients its global military focus to counter growing strategic competition from China in the Indo-Pacific region.

NATO’s core operational framework for coordinating collective defense, the NATO Force Model, outlines which assets from member states will be made available to alliance commanders across the first six months of a conflict, spanning peace, crisis, and full war. According to Rutte, alliance commander U.S. General Alex Grynkewich has assessed that existing and upcoming capabilities from other NATO member states are largely sufficient to fill the gaps created by the U.S. drawdown in planning commitments. “The overall picture is looking good,” Rutte said.

Even so, some European allies have expressed surprise at the range of assets being withdrawn from U.S. commitments, as many of these capabilities are already in short supply across European armed forces. The Trump administration has set a deadline for allies to outline their plans to replace the missing assets or adjust defense planning to account for the gap in advance of the July 7-8 NATO summit scheduled to be held in Ankara, Turkey. Ahead of the summit, European and Canadian allies are expecting to receive more detailed clarification of U.S. plans from U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at this week’s Brussels meeting, after Hegseth skipped the alliance’s previous defense minister gathering in February.

The recent policy shift has already sown confusion among allies. Last month, Trump announced plans to deploy an additional 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland, a move that bewildered alliance partners even as his administration continues to reiterate its goal of reducing, not expanding, the overall U.S. military footprint in Europe.

Separate from the changes to collective defense planning, additional U.S. troop drawdowns are already underway in the Balkans. Last Friday, NATO military headquarters announced it would downsize the alliance’s Kosovo Security Force (KFOR), with U.S. troops expected to make up a significant portion of the departing personnel. Currently, 590 U.S. troops are deployed with KFOR, making the U.S. the second-largest contributing nation to the mission behind Italy, which deploys 907 personnel. The U.S. also maintains a contingent of Black Hawk helicopters at its large Camp Bondsteel base in Kosovo.

KFOR first deployed to the region in 1999 to maintain peace between Kosovo and Serbia after the end of the Kosovo War. At its peak, the mission counted more than 50,000 personnel across all contributing nations, and force levels have been gradually reduced for decades as regional tensions eased. In 2023, however, NATO deployed an additional 1,000 troops to the region after a new wave of violent unrest erupted. On Wednesday, Rutte confirmed the latest drawdown will see more than 1,000 total personnel depart KFOR, consistent with Grynkewich’s assessment that security conditions in Kosovo are now stable enough to “optimize” the mission’s size.

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — Against the backdrop of the annual G7 summit for the world’s major industrialized democracies, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will depart the gathering on Wednesday without holding a scheduled formal bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, a development that comes as the future of the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) hangs in the balance.

Bilateral meetings between Canadian prime ministers and sitting U.S. presidents have long been a standard staple of G7 gatherings, but Carney has pushed back firmly against any speculation that the lack of a formal sit-down constitutes a diplomatic snub from the Trump administration. Carney told reporters that he has already held seven to eight informal conversations with Trump over the 36 hours leading up to Wednesday, with more discussions planned for the day of his departure. These talks spanned a broad spectrum of policy and personal topics, ranging from economic cooperation, cross-border relations, and emerging artificial intelligence policy to global hotspots including Ukraine and Iran, and even a lighthearted exchange about Trump’s recent birthday.

The current moment is a defining turning point for NAFTA, the trade accord that has deeply integrated the economies of Canada, the United States, and Mexico since its implementation in the early 1990s. The agreement’s renewal deadline is set for July 1, and last week Trump raised widespread alarm when he indicated he may opt to let the existing deal expire rather than approve an extension. For Canada, which relies on the U.S. market for roughly 75% of its total exports, preserving a stable, long-term NAFTA framework is a top national economic priority.

On the sidelines of the G7 gathering, Canada’s top trade officials have already been advancing negotiations: Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister responsible for U.S. trade, and Janice Charette, Canada’s chief NAFTA negotiator, held talks with U.S. Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer. LeBlanc confirmed that the discussions yielded tangible progress toward a potential agreement. LeBlanc has previously warned that the Trump administration is pushing for major changes to the accord’s structure, including mandatory annual review cycles, a shift that would create persistent uncertainty over the trade deal’s long-term permanence.

Thus far at the 2025 G7 summit, French President Emmanuel Macron, the event’s host, remains the only G7 leader to secure a formal one-on-one bilateral meeting with Trump. The U.S. president has also held formal bilateral sessions with leaders of invited non-G7 nations including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and India. Carney pushed back on questions about the uneven scheduling, noting that it is standard practice for a summit’s host country to hold a formal bilateral meeting with the U.S. president as a matter of protocol.

Audio captured by open microphones during one informal interaction revealed that Carney balanced lighthearted humor with serious policy discussion with Trump. In an off-the-cuff moment, the two leaders joked playfully about “stealing” Macron’s luxury watch before shifting to a substantive conversation about Canada’s new policy framework for Chinese electric vehicle (EV) imports.

Carney explained to Trump that Canada has implemented a hard import cap on Chinese-made EVs, limiting annual imports to just 49,000 vehicles – less than 3% of Canada’s total current auto market. Carney noted he struck this cap arrangement with Beijing, framing it as a tough policy aligned with Trump’s own trade priorities. “It’s a cap, we capped, a hard line,” Carney said in the exchange. “I thought you’d actually like that.” Trump responded positively, telling Carney: “That’s good, I like it.”

Earlier this year, Canada broke with the U.S. to roll back its 100% tariff on Chinese EVs in exchange for reduced Chinese tariffs on Canadian agricultural exports. Carney confirmed he has discussed the policy with Trump twice, adding that he was not surprised the U.S. president had not followed every granular detail of the bilateral Canada-China deal. “He likes the structure. Actually, we had a follow-up conversation about it as well,” Carney added.

Peter Boehm, a veteran Canadian senator who previously led Canadian delegation planning for multiple G7 summits, backed Carney’s framing of the lack of a formal meeting, saying that the informal format of the summit actually gives leaders far more unstructured interaction time than pre-scheduled formal meetings allow. “I wouldn’t see it as a snub,” Boehm said. “It’s amazing how much time leaders can actually have to have conversations.”

The Norwegian Royal Household has confirmed that Crown Princess Mette-Marit, 52, has completed a successful lung transplant at a hospital in Oslo, bringing a wave of cautious relief across the kingdom after months of declining health.

Mette-Marit first received a diagnosis of a rare, progressive form of pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, a condition that gradually scarred her lung tissue and caused persistent breathing difficulties. As her symptoms worsened over the past year, she began stepping back from official royal engagements, with her medical team describing her condition as significantly deteriorated and “dangerous” earlier in 2025. Just 12 days before the transplant procedure, the palace confirmed she had been added to the national organ transplant waiting list— a step doctors only take when a patient is estimated to have less than 12 months left to live, with priority given to the most critically ill cases.

Her last public appearance came on May 17, when she was photographed using a nasal breathing tube connected to a portable oxygen device to manage her symptoms. Following the operation, lead lung specialist Are Holm shared positive updates in an official statement released by the royal palace. “We are delighted that everything has progressed well so far,” Holm said, noting that the Crown Princess will remain under close medical observation in the hospital for the next several weeks, a standard protocol for all recent organ transplant recipients. Holm also cautioned that the road to recovery remains fragile: transplant recipients must take lifelong immunosuppressive medications to prevent organ rejection, and data shows one in eight donor lung recipients do not survive the first year post-procedure, while roughly half are still alive after a decade.

Crown Prince Haakon, Mette-Marit’s husband of 24 years, has announced he will adjust all upcoming official commitments to be by his wife’s side during her initial recovery. The transplant comes amid an exceptionally difficult period for the Norwegian royal family, marked by two major controversies in recent months. Just two days before the procedure, Mette-Marit’s 29-year-old son Marius Borg Høiby was sentenced to four years in prison following conviction on two counts of rape. Though Høiby—who was four when his mother married Haakon and holds no official royal title—pled guilty to lesser included offenses, he maintains his innocence on the most serious charges, and his legal team has already confirmed plans to appeal the verdict. Prior to the sentencing, Høiby’s lawyers repeatedly requested his temporary release from custody to allow him to visit his ailing mother, but all such requests were denied.

Earlier this year, the royal family faced another public scandal when documents were released revealing Mette-Marit’s three-year friendship with the deceased disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Mette-Marit later issued a public apology to King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway, acknowledged she had exercised “poor judgement” in maintaining the relationship, and stated in a national television interview that she regretted ever meeting Epstein.

Norwegian royal commentator and historian Ole-Jørgen Schulsrud-Hansen called the successful transplant positive news for both the royal family and the entire nation. “This was one of the most serious obstacles on the road for a better health for the Crown Princess, and I think many people are relieved the transplant was successful,” Schulsrud-Hansen noted.

VERSAILLES, France — Days after a pre-arranged digital signature and ahead of a planned formal ceremonial signing, former U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday he had finalized his signature on an interim agreement with Iran, a deal that rolls out sweeping U.S. concessions to Tehran, pauses the war launched by the U.S. and Israel in February, and paves the way for renewed global oil flows through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who led mediation efforts to broker the initial ceasefire framework, confirmed the deal is already taking immediate effect, with a full formal signing ceremony scheduled to take place this Friday.

Details of the agreement, negotiated over weeks behind closed doors, were first shared with reporters by unnamed U.S. officials, and the text released later by Iranian state media largely aligned with the U.S. account of the terms. The framework includes core commitments from Iran to dilute its existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium on site and reaffirm a pledge not to pursue or acquire nuclear weapons. In exchange, Washington has agreed to immediately waive — though not permanently eliminate — sweeping U.S. sanctions against Iran, a move that lets Tehran resume unconstrained global oil sales starting immediately.

Additional key terms of the 60-day interim deal open the Strait of Hormuz to toll-free commercial shipping, a critical shift after months of closure that triggered a global energy crisis, and require a full halt to Israeli military operations in Lebanon while affirming Lebanon’s full territorial integrity amid Israel’s ongoing invasion against Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. The agreement also sets a 60-day negotiating window for parties to reach a permanent, final nuclear agreement.

Trump confirmed the signing as he departed the historic Palace of Versailles, following a private dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron held after the Group of Seven (G7) summit in France. A video shared online by a White House aide captured the moment: Trump seated next to Macron, signed a physical copy of the agreement, then passed the document and pen to Secretary of State Marco Rubio as attendees in the room applauded. A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose unannounced details, confirmed Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also signed the agreement Wednesday, though Tehran has not yet issued an official public comment on the signing.

As of Wednesday evening, the full text of the agreement has not been formally released to the public. Confusion remains around the discrepancy between Trump’s digital signing of the deal that was announced for Sunday and this week’s in-person signing at Versailles, as well as whether the 60-day negotiating clock officially began with Wednesday’s signing.

The conflict that preceded this deal began when the U.S. and Israel launched military operations against Iran on February 28, with Trump framing the war’s core goal as eliminating Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon. Over the course of the conflict, Trump expanded stated war aims to include ending Iran’s ballistic missile program, cutting its support for regional proxy groups like Hezbollah, and even calling for the full overthrow of the Iranian government. This interim agreement falls far short of those sweeping original goals, but Trump nonetheless praised the deal Wednesday.

“Nobody knows what it is, but it’s very strong,” Trump told reporters in France. He also left open the possibility of walking away from the framework entirely, adding: “It’s a memorandum of understanding, and if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs.”

For the most part, the interim deal restores the regional status quo that existed before the outbreak of war: it ends all active hostilities, reopens the Strait of Hormuz — the critical global energy chokepoint whose closure triggered skyrocketing energy and food prices worldwide — and resumes bilateral nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran. The framework delivers substantial immediate benefits to Iran, requiring very few upfront concessions from Tehran in return.

The terms of this new deal go far beyond the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Obama-era Iran nuclear agreement that Trump withdrew the U.S. from during his first term, when he famously called it the “worst deal ever negotiated.” Iran has consistently maintained its nuclear program is purely for peaceful, civilian purposes.

The deal is expected to face fierce political pushback in Washington, and it marks a significant setback for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has already faced growing domestic criticism from opposition groups, media, and even some of his own allies as details of the agreement have emerged.

A core provision of the deal ends months of fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, one of the most contentious points of the negotiation. The text of the agreement explicitly requires all military operations in Lebanon to cease immediately and affirms the country’s territorial integrity, with Iran calling for a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied areas of southern Lebanon under the deal’s terms. Israel has so far rejected any withdrawal, but the agreement’s terms mandate an immediate end to offensive operations regardless.

Pakistani mediators, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations, outlined that broader concessions to Iran — including the full permanent lifting of all U.S. and U.N. sanctions and the release of billions in frozen Iranian assets — will be implemented gradually, tied to progress in the 60-day permanent negotiation window. Even so, the immediate U.S. decision to allow unrestricted Iranian oil sales strips Washington of one of its biggest negotiating leverage points; under the 2015 JCPOA, sanctions on Iranian oil were only lifted after Iran completed major nuclear concessions, not at the start of talks.

Unlike the 2015 agreement, which only addressed nuclear-related sanctions, this interim framework opens the door to the eventual removal of all U.S. and U.N. sanctions on Iran, including those imposed over Tehran’s weapons programs and human rights record. The agreement also includes a provision for up to $300 billion in reconstruction funding for Iran, a sum that U.S. Vice President JD Vance says will come from Gulf Arab nations. Trump confirmed Wednesday the U.S. will not contribute any funds to this package, though Gulf states have already signaled reluctance to fund Iran after Iranian attacks during the war damaged Gulf oil infrastructure and other targets.

For the global economy, the agreement delivers immediate, much-needed relief. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed through the Strait of Hormuz. After the war began, Iranian attacks on commercial shipping and demands for shipping tolls effectively closed the strait to most traffic, driving up global energy prices and raising costs for essential goods including food. Under the terms of the deal, the strait will reopen to prewar traffic levels within 30 days, and the U.S. will lift its blockade on Iranian ports. The framework also acknowledges the need for coordinated demining operations to clear unexploded ordnance from the waterway before full traffic can resume.

This report includes contributions from Associated Press journalists across multiple global locations: Aamer Madhani in Evian-les-Bains, France; Darlene Superville in Geneva, Switzerland; Angela Charlton in Paris, France; and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan. David Gambrell reported from Dubai, Samy Magdy from Cairo, and Michael Catalini from Morrisville, Pennsylvania.