President Donald Trump is heading to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, this week with a clear mission: enforce the defense spending pledges he secured from allies at last year's summit in The Hague. The speed at which most NATO countries have moved to meet Trump's demand to spend 5% of their annual gross domestic product on defense over the next decade underscores how the U.S. president has reshaped the alliance, even as he continues to spar with members over the Iran war, his flirtation with annexing Greenland, and various personal tiffs.
Trump's Message: Immediate Action on Spending
“President Trump fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to 5% and do it with urgency,” Matt Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, told reporters in a preview of the administration’s message before the summit. Trump leaves Monday evening for Ankara, and in the days leading up to the trip, he has been airing grievances about U.S. defense spending compared with other countries. This comes despite efforts from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who tried to feed Trump's ego during an Oval Office meeting last month by displaying large charts showing what he called “The Trump Trillion”—the increase in allies' spending commitments since 2017.
Summit as 'First Report Card' After The Hague
Luke Coffey, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, described the Ankara gathering as the “first report card” after last year’s summit in The Hague. “If NATO members play their cards right—if the leaders show up demonstrating a commitment and a reasonable plan to meet these spending targets—then it’ll allow President Trump to take a victory lap,” Coffey said. The 5% target, which includes 3.5% for core defense spending and the rest for related expenses like infrastructure, was a broad goal reached in The Hague, though Spain said it couldn’t meet those levels and others have voiced reservations.
Trump’s trip follows last month’s G7 summit in France, where he left buoyed by support for his interim agreement to end the war with Iran. He praised unity among leaders, who also worked to bring Trump onside to boost security assistance for Ukraine in its fight with Russia. That war, now in its fifth year, is expected to be a key focus at the Ankara summit. The White House said Trump will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday. Trump spoke with both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 4.
Bilateral Meetings and Lingering Feuds
Trump also plans to meet on the sidelines with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, though the White House has not provided goals for that discussion. It comes as Trump has publicly mused about Syria playing a bigger role fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Al-Sharaa, who led an Islamic insurgent group and whose rebel forces ousted former Syrian President Bashar Assad, has said he has no interest in doing so. Trump also plans a separate meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the host of the summit, whom he counts as a close friend. However, he has no bilateral meetings planned with other leaders.
Despite the positive tone at the G7, Trump resurrected feuds upon returning stateside. He proclaimed that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer would resign, arguing that Starmer “failed badly” on immigration and energy. Meanwhile, Trump asserted that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had begged him for a photo, prompting a ferocious denial by her and the cancellation of a U.S. visit by Italy’s foreign minister. Trump egged it on further on Sunday by posting a photo on social media of Meloni smiling at him, along with the words “RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED.” Trump has remained on tense terms with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and while French President Emmanuel Macron charmed Trump with a lavish dinner at the Palace of Versailles last month, relations have not always been smooth.
Bipartisan Senators Head to Summit as Counterweight
Aware of those tensions, a bipartisan group of senators is again headed to the summit this year, trying to represent the broad support for the alliance on Capitol Hill and to serve as a counterweight to Trump’s often caustic attitude toward NATO. “They are our best allies, they are our best trading partners, they are critical to our national security, to our economic success, and we need to encourage those relationships,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who is leading the delegation to Ankara. “That’s part of what Congress understands that the administration doesn’t seem to.”
Trump's Team Pushes 'NATO 3.0'
The summit comes as Trump’s administration makes the case for what it calls “NATO 3.0,” which envisions an alliance where Europe takes on more of its security needs, allowing the U.S. to shift its focus elsewhere. The strategy was outlined by Elbridge Colby, a U.S. undersecretary of defense, earlier this year at a gathering of NATO defense ministers. Then, in a scathing speech to other NATO defense ministers last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth added to the pressure by announcing that the U.S. will conduct a six-month review of its forces in Europe, surprising countries that had anticipated coordinating with the Trump administration through the transition. Trump himself sparked confusion earlier this year by announcing he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland weeks after ordering the same number pulled out of the continent.
Shaheen said the NATO 3.0 concept “fails to understand―as this administration has consistently failed to understand―the threat that Putin and Russia are to Europe and subsequently to the United States.”
Europe Boosts Spending but Relies on U.S.
Despite increased pledges and spending, experts say many parts of Europe are nonetheless reliant on the U.S. for their defense should they come under attack. The defining feature of the NATO alliance is the view that an armed attack on one member is an attack on all. “This is the reality for most Europeans,” said Liana Fix, senior fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations. She said most are far from being able to defend themselves without the United States, “even if they’re starting to develop all that.”
Apart from the spending pledge, NATO has worked to accommodate Trump in other ways. The alliance earlier this year introduced “Arctic Sentry,” a NATO-led military exercise aimed at countering Russian and Chinese activities in the region. It’s also meant to address Trump’s repeated threats to seize Greenland, since the Republican president has insisted the U.S. needs to acquire the semiautonomous territory of Denmark for strategic security reasons.
