Trump arrives in Turkey for NATO summit amid alliance tensions

Donald Trump landed in Ankara on Tuesday, July 7, to a lavish ceremonial welcome that turned the opening of NATO’s July 7-8 summit into a display built around the U.S. president. The meeting brought together leaders from all 32 member states, but the substance remained fixed on defense spending, Russia’s war in Ukraine and the war in Iran.

Trump’s arrival gave Recep Tayyip Erdogan a chance to showcase close ties with Washington at a moment when NATO is trying to prove it can absorb Trump’s pressure without fracturing. Trump was expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Erdogan on the sidelines, and the visit marked the first time a U.S. president had traveled to Turkey since Barack Obama in 2015.

In the days before the summit, NATO members unveiled arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars, a signal that the alliance was trying to answer Trump’s repeated criticism that member states have not spent enough on their own defense. Trump has spent years questioning allies’ reliability, and his arrival came with those grievances still hanging over the summit floor.

Trump’s personal affinity for authoritarian-leaning leaders has long been an asset for the Turkish president, who has used foreign leader visits to reinforce his standing at home and abroad. The tightly managed welcome in Ankara allowed Erdogan to project Turkey as a central player inside the alliance, even as NATO’s agenda was shaped by wars and spending disputes far beyond Turkey’s borders.

Protesters gathered in Istanbul before the meeting, underscoring domestic and international anger over NATO’s role and over the spectacle surrounding Trump’s visit.