Trump pressures allies at Turkey summit to build new alliance model

NATO leaders in Ankara will unveil arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars at a defense industry forum, then turn to a summit shaped by Donald Trump’s demand that Europe take on more of the alliance’s cost, weapons production and operational risk. The gathering at the Beştepe Presidential Complex brought together the 32 allies on July 7 and 8, with Trump due to meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and sit down with fellow leaders of the military alliance.

Mark Rutte framed the meeting as a test of whether NATO could become, in his words, “sustainable,” with a deal the United States would see as fair. He said Europeans had made “staggering” increases in defense spending. NATO’s European members and Canada spent $90 billion more in 2025 than in 2024, lifting total spending to more than $570 billion. Washington has also cut the forces it assigns to NATO defense plans, including an aircraft carrier, refueling aircraft, fighter jets and drones, and has launched a six-month review of its military presence in Europe.

The burden-sharing test was also tied to a deadline. Pentagon officials told diplomats last year that Europe should take over the majority of NATO’s conventional defense capabilities, from intelligence to missiles, by 2027, a timetable some European officials called unrealistic because money alone cannot replace U.S. systems quickly enough. One camp is led by Germany and mostly Nordic and eastern European nations, while Britain, France and Italy are struggling with political and fiscal hurdles. Germany planned to use a borrowing-rule exemption to double defense spending to more than €200 billion by 2030, Poland spent 4.3% of GDP on defense last year, and the Netherlands will announce more than €3 billion in defense deals at the forum.

The summit declaration will lock in a second measure of whether the new model could work: €70 billion in military assistance to Ukraine in 2026, with at least the same level in 2027. NATO is also moving to replace its 14 U.S.-built AWACS aircraft with Swedish Saab GlobalEye surveillance jets, based on Bombardier’s Global 6500, at Germany’s Geilenkirchen base.