Jens Stoltenberg at a luncheon in Norway | Ragnar Singsaas/Getty Images NATO chief seeks to be Trump BFF ‘European allies have to invest more in collective defense,’ secretary-general says.

DAVOS, Switzerland — Donald Trump may have called NATO "obsolete" and cast doubt on America's pledge to jointly defend its members, but the alliance's secretary-general is "absolutely confident" the incoming U.S. president is committed to the main pillar of Western defense cooperation. What makes him so sure?



“He told me that when we spoke,” Jens Stoltenberg said at the World Economic Forum. The Norwegian told POLITICO he is “absolutely confident that Donald Trump will be a president that will be strongly committed to NATO."



Rex Tillerson (Trump's pick for secretary of state) and James Mattis (for secretary of defense) are likewise “strongly committed” to the alliance, Stoltenberg added.



What's more, Stoltenberg said he and Trump agree “that European allies have to invest more in collective defense ... I have raised it in all capitals, and I will work together with him (Trump) on how we can convey that strong message."

The Brussels NATO summit in mid-2017 could be one of the first opportunities to do just that.

“NATO is the most successful alliance in history because we have been able to change" — Jens Stoltenberg



“I am looking forward to work with President Trump on how to adapt NATO," Stoltenberg said. "Sit around the table and have an open discussion. That’s the best way to create strength and unity: to be together and discuss common challenges.”

Stoltenberg said a turnaround in countries' defense spending was happening before Trump began applying pressure during the U.S. election campaign, and now includes a “real increase of around 3 percent” in European spending in 2016.

“NATO is the most successful alliance in history because we have been able to change,” the secretary-general said. “We have to focus both on input and output. What we need is that all NATO allies spend 2 percent (of GDP on defense) in a good way. We need more spending and better spending, not either/or."



No place for propaganda

Stoltenberg is putting a premium on improving NATO’s cyber defenses and strategic communications in 2017, in line with views expressed by recently retired NATO commander James Stavridis in Davos.

Building on the 2014 Wales summit agreement that a cyberattack can trigger NATO’s Article 5 collective defense clause, Stoltenberg said the alliance had "significantly increased our cyber defenses in different ways.”

“We are ready," he said. "We’ve done the groundwork.”

Asked what it would take for a cyberattack to trigger Article 5, Stoltenberg said it was impossible to give an exact definition, but ruled out election interference as a trigger.

“We have to see how intense the cyberattack is. It will be based on assessments of how much human injury, fiscal damage, and to what extent it poses a threat to our military capabilities.”

Regarding the rise of propaganda and misinformation, particularly from Russia, Stoltenberg said: “I don’t believe we should meet propaganda with propaganda.”

“I believe in the free press. NATO can provide facts and defend the value of free, open societies. In the long run, I really believe democracy and freedom will win over autocracy and oppression. A free, open society will prevail," he said. "The truth will prevail over propaganda, as long as we all engage."