Trump Pressures NATO Allies on Defense Spending as Summit Opens in Ankara

NATO's 32 member nations opened their annual summit in Ankara on July 7, 2026, with President Trump raising his public criticism of how much the U.S. pays for the alliance just days before his arrival. NPR

On July 2, Trump posted on Truth Social that the United States "spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing," calling it "Ridiculous!" NPR This followed a June 24 meeting at the White House between Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. NPR

The two-day summit, running July 7-8, focuses on reviewing commitments made at last year's summit in The Hague in June 2025. NATO Rutte said the meeting would "focus on delivery" and described the moment as "NATO 3.0" — meant to show "a stronger Europe and a stronger NATO" following through on previous promises. NATO NPR

The formal agenda covers defense spending, how NATO coordinates arms production and supply chains, and the war in Ukraine. NPR Allied members are expected to reaffirm their support for Ukraine and pledge more military help, with €70 billion in weapons already committed for 2026. Reuters A draft summit text shows leaders, including Trump, are set to affirm an "ironclad commitment" to collective defense. Reuters Before the summit, allies announced large weapons deals worth tens of billions of dollars in Ankara, a move officials say shows they're responding to U.S. pressure to spend more. Reuters

What "NATO 3.0" Actually Means

Behind the spending announcements sits a deeper disagreement over what "NATO 3.0" should look like. Max Bergmann, a NATO expert at the think tank CSIS, told NPR the phrase started at the Pentagon, where U.S. military leaders under Trump want Europe to take on more of its own security and count less on American troops. NPR The Pentagon's goal, Bergmann said, is to "dramatically change how NATO is structured" by shifting more responsibility to Europe and pulling U.S. forces back or out. NPR Bergmann characterized Rutte's goal differently: use the summit's public performance to block that Pentagon restructuring plan and keep U.S. troops and support largely as they are. NPR

Bergmann described the summit as containing "a lot of smoke and mirrors," aimed less at solving that underlying conflict than at keeping Trump satisfied through the summer without breaking the alliance apart. NPR This framing matters for understanding the real negotiation happening in the background: what leaders say in Ankara and what weapons deals they announce are the public show, but the actual decisions about troop levels, where bases sit, and military command structures are being worked out separately, behind the scenes, on a slower timeline.

Other Meetings and Unresolved Tensions

Trump is scheduled to meet separately with leaders of Ukraine and Syria while in Turkey. Reuters European officials told Reuters they hope Trump's personal relationships with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and with Rutte will help smooth over disputes, particularly disagreements over Iran policy and Trump's stated interest in acquiring Greenland. Reuters Those officials are, in effect, trying to keep disputes separate from the summit itself — disputes that stem from Trump's second-term position that the U.S. should take over Greenland, a claim that angered NATO members when he first raised it. NPR

The Bigger Picture

Tension over spending and America's commitment to NATO is not new. Trump called NATO "obsolete" during his first term and said members were not paying their fair share. NPR French President Emmanuel Macron once said the alliance had "brain death." NPR Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 changed the conversation, driving more NATO expansion and bringing members closer together. NPR

Whether the Ankara summit locks in that post-2022 unity for the long term, or simply delays a Pentagon-driven overhaul until after summer, is the question NATO capitals will need to answer once the cameras leave town.