Trump lashes out at NATO as summit opens in Ankara

Donald Trump arrived in Ankara on Tuesday and said he was "very disappointed with NATO" after a bilateral meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The two-day gathering at the Beştepe Presidential Compound, chaired by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, opened on Tuesday with Ukraine, defense spending and Europe’s security posture at the center of the talks.

The meeting is meant to move NATO from last year’s spending pledges in The Hague into implementation, with allies now under pressure to turn commitments into weapons purchases, troop readiness and industrial capacity. At The Hague in 2025, NATO allies agreed to spend 3.5% of GDP on core defense items and 1.5% on broader defense-related investments such as cybersecurity by 2035. NATO said European allies and Canada spent $90 billion more on defense in 2025 than in 2024, lifting total spending to more than $570 billion.

Trump used his Ankara stop to revisit familiar disputes over Iran, saying allies had not supported the U.S. and Israel during the conflict and adding that Italy, Germany and France had "turned us down." He also criticized Europe on energy and immigration policy, while praising Turkey and the relationship between Washington and Ankara. Trump said he would remove sanctions on Turkey and would soon decide whether to approve a possible sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.

Russia’s continuing war against Ukraine shaped the talks. European officials came to Ankara hoping to show they are stepping up their defense commitments and to ease tensions with Trump over Iran and Greenland. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was expected to attend a dinner hosted by Erdogan, who was also due to hold bilateral talks with Trump.

He again floated the idea of an American takeover of Greenland and, ahead of a planned meeting with Zelenskyy, said the fighting between Kyiv and Moscow "doesn’t affect us." Trump was expected to keep the trip brief and return to the United States on Wednesday evening.