Trump Arrives in Ankara Pressing NATO on Spending, Iran, and Ukraine

President Donald Trump departed Washington Monday evening for the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, arriving with unresolved disputes over allied defense spending and the alliance's response to U.S.-led military operations against Iran. ^[1][2] The summit is scheduled for July 7-8 at the Beştepe Presidential Compound and brings together all 32 member states. It will be chaired by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and is expected to conclude Wednesday, when Trump will hold a news conference.

The summit is structured as an enforcement moment for commitments made at last year's meeting in The Hague. At that gathering, allies committed to spending 5% of GDP on defense by 2035, with 3.5% dedicated to core defense requirements and 1.5% to broader security infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and ports. The Ankara summit is expected to move the debate from pledges to implementation, including questions about procurement, industrial capacity, and the political architecture of what the Trump administration has called "NATO 3.0." Under that framework, the administration envisions an alliance in which Europe takes on more of its own security needs, allowing the United States to shift its focus elsewhere.

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker set the tone ahead of the summit. "President Trump fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to 5% and do it with urgency," Whitaker told reporters in a preview of the administration's message. Whitaker also signaled that Washington would not accept symbolic gestures as a substitute for measurable progress. He suggested the United States has measures in store for allies that do not step up, though he declined to specify them. Whitaker said there will be a "report card" to assess where countries stand in their efforts to reach the 5% target. NATO Secretary General Rutte echoed the urgency on Monday, demanding that members put forward "clear, concrete and credible plans" to reach the alliance's defense spending targets. On aggregate progress, Rutte noted that NATO estimates European allies and Canada will invest a combined $258 billion more in defense in 2025 and 2026 than in previous years. The alliance also plans a defense industry forum on Tuesday. Rutte said the summit will announce "tens of billions in new contracts" intended to deliver capabilities required for deterrence and defense.

Trump's posture toward the summit has been colored by the alliance's response to the Iran conflict. Trump has called for "loyalty" from NATO allies, after some declined to allow the use of their military bases during U.S. and Israeli operations against Iran. His ongoing friction with the alliance spans the Iran war, his interest in Greenland, and other bilateral disputes, even as he has reshaped the alliance on the defense-spending question. Trump was direct about his reasons for attending at all. Told he was attending out of respect for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump said he likely would not have come if the summit were not being held in Turkey. European diplomats acknowledge privately that Erdogan played a key role in persuading Trump to attend and are relying on his support to reinforce NATO's continued importance to the U.S. president.

Ukraine will figure prominently in the summit proceedings on two tracks. Trump is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and a senior U.S. official said Sunday that Trump planned to speak with Zelenskyy about "how we can end the war." On the financial commitment track, the draft summit declaration is expected to formalize a European and Canadian pledge known as the Ukraine Pledge. The declaration is expected to include a commitment by European NATO members and Canada to provide Ukraine with 70 billion euros in military support annually in 2026 and 2027. That figure is not additional funding but represents the total amount allies will provide, including the defense portion of the EU's existing 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine and bilateral military support commitments. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has been a primary advocate for the pledge. Merz had announced ahead of the summit that Germany would advocate for new financial assistance commitments to Ukraine from its European partners. However, a senior German official told POLITICO that Berlin was not expecting discussions on Ukraine's NATO membership, describing Washington's position on that question as "sufficiently clear" [POLITICO].

Ukraine's prospective membership remains legally and politically unresolved. The North Atlantic Treaty's Article 10 requires unanimous consent of existing members for any new accession, and the United States has not publicly supported a membership offer for Kyiv during the current administration. The issue of Ukraine has been a persistent feature of every NATO gathering since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators is traveling to Ankara this year, seeking to signal congressional support for the alliance as a counterweight to the administration's posture. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who is leading the delegation, described NATO allies as "our best allies" and "critical to our national security."

—