By Anietie anii-bassey
President Donald Trump is heading to this week’s NATO summit determined to ensure that alliance members follow through on their promises to significantly increase defense spending, making the issue the centerpiece of his diplomatic agenda as leaders gather in Ankara, Turkey.
After spending years criticizing NATO allies for relying too heavily on American military protection while failing to invest adequately in their own armed forces, Trump now arrives at the summit claiming that his pressure campaign has fundamentally reshaped the alliance.
His administration argues that member nations have finally embraced higher military spending targets, marking what it views as one of Trump’s most significant foreign policy achievements.
The summit is expected to test whether those commitments translate into concrete action, with the U.S. president making it clear that promises alone will not satisfy Washington.
Speaking ahead of the gathering, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker said the administration expects every member nation to begin moving immediately toward the alliance’s new goal of spending 5% of its annual gross domestic product on defense over the next decade.
“President Trump fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to 5% and do it with urgency,” Whitaker said while outlining the administration’s priorities before the meeting.
Trump is scheduled to depart for Turkey on Monday evening after several days of publicly criticizing NATO members over what he says is an unfair imbalance in defense spending. He has repeatedly argued that the United States shoulders a disproportionate share of the alliance’s military burden while many European allies continue to underinvest in their own security.
The pressure campaign has become a defining feature of Trump’s approach to NATO since his first term in office. Although his confrontational rhetoric has often unsettled allied governments, many member states have substantially increased defense budgets in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine and growing concerns about European security.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has worked to emphasize those gains while attempting to maintain positive relations with the White House. During an Oval Office meeting last month, Rutte presented large charts highlighting what he called “The Trump Trillion,” illustrating the significant increase in defense spending commitments made by NATO allies since 2017.
Supporters of Trump’s strategy argue that his persistent criticism has forced European governments to take defense spending more seriously than they had for decades.
Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, described the Ankara summit as the first major assessment of whether countries are honoring the commitments made during last year’s NATO summit in The Hague.
According to Coffey, if alliance leaders arrive with credible plans showing how they intend to reach the new spending targets, Trump will likely portray the outcome as a major political and diplomatic victory.
The summit is also expected to focus heavily on the ongoing war in Ukraine, now entering its fifth year.
The White House has confirmed that Trump will hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday during the summit. The meeting follows recent conversations Trump held separately with both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 4 as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict continue.
Ukraine’s future military support from NATO members remains one of the alliance’s most pressing issues, with European governments continuing to strengthen assistance while discussions over long-term security guarantees remain ongoing.
Beyond Ukraine, Trump is expected to hold several high-profile bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit.
Among them is a planned discussion with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa. While the White House has not disclosed the agenda, the meeting comes after Trump suggested publicly that Syria could potentially assume a larger role in confronting Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon. Al-Sharaa has previously indicated that his government has no interest in becoming involved in such operations.
Trump will also meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is hosting this year’s summit. The two leaders have maintained a close working relationship despite occasional disagreements over regional security issues.
No additional one-on-one meetings with other NATO leaders have been announced.
The summit comes shortly after Trump attended the Group of Seven meeting in France, where leaders expressed support for his interim agreement aimed at ending the conflict with Iran. During that gathering, allied leaders also sought to persuade Trump to maintain strong security assistance for Ukraine.
Despite the relatively cooperative atmosphere at the G7 summit, tensions between Trump and several European leaders resurfaced soon after his return to the United States.
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Trump publicly predicted that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer would resign, criticizing his handling of immigration and energy policy. He also claimed that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had asked him for a photograph, an assertion strongly rejected by the Italian government and followed by the cancellation of a planned visit to Washington by Italy’s foreign minister.
The dispute escalated further when Trump shared a photograph of Meloni smiling at him on social media accompanied by the caption, “RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED.”
Relations between Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney have also remained strained, while his relationship with French President Emmanuel Macron has alternated between warm public displays and periods of sharp disagreement.
Concerned about maintaining strong transatlantic ties regardless of political tensions, a bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators is traveling to Ankara alongside the summit. Lawmakers say their presence reflects Congress’s longstanding bipartisan support for NATO and its commitment to preserving close relationships with European allies.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who is leading the congressional delegation, emphasized the strategic importance of maintaining strong partnerships within the alliance.
“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,” Shaheen said.
Another major topic expected to dominate discussions is the Trump administration’s vision for what officials describe as “NATO 3.0.”
The concept calls for European countries to assume much greater responsibility for defending the continent, allowing the United States to redirect more military resources toward other global priorities.
The strategy was outlined earlier this year by U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby during a meeting of NATO defense ministers. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later reinforced the administration’s position by announcing a six-month review of U.S. military deployments across Europe, a move that surprised several allies who had anticipated closer coordination before any force adjustments.
Trump has also created uncertainty regarding America’s military posture in Europe through shifting announcements. Earlier this year, he declared plans to deploy 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland shortly after announcing the withdrawal of a similar number of American forces from elsewhere on the continent.
Critics argue that the administration’s approach risks weakening NATO’s deterrence against Russia.
Shaheen warned that the NATO 3.0 strategy underestimates the long-term threat posed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and could leave Europe more vulnerable if American military commitments are reduced too quickly.
Although NATO members have pledged to increase defense spending substantially, military experts caution that Europe remains heavily dependent on U.S. capabilities for intelligence, logistics, missile defense, strategic airlift and nuclear deterrence.
The alliance’s new spending framework calls for countries to devote 3.5% of GDP directly to military expenditures while allocating an additional 1.5% toward broader security-related investments such as infrastructure and defense resilience.
While many governments have endorsed the target, Spain has indicated it cannot meet the proposed levels, and several other members have expressed reservations about the ambitious timeline.
Security analysts note that despite higher defense budgets, European militaries would still struggle to operate independently without significant American support should a major conflict erupt.
Liana Fix, a senior fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations, said many European countries are strengthening their military capabilities but remain far from achieving full strategic independence from the United States.
In addition to defense spending, NATO has also taken steps to address growing security concerns in the Arctic. Earlier this year, the alliance launched “Arctic Sentry,” a multinational military exercise designed to counter increasing Russian and Chinese activity in the region.
The initiative also comes amid Trump’s repeated assertions that the United States should acquire Greenland from Denmark, arguing that the Arctic territory holds critical strategic importance for American national security.
As NATO leaders gather in Ankara, the summit is expected to shape the alliance’s future direction on defense spending, military strategy and burden-sharing, while highlighting the continuing influence of Trump’s demands on one of the world’s most important security partnerships.
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