WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President got what he wanted from NATO at an alliance whose members had largely acceded to his demands to step up their defense spending.
This week when he his mission is to
The speed with which most NATO countries have tried to heed Trump鈥檚 call to spend 5% of their annual gross domestic product on defense over the next decade underscores how the U.S. president has reshaped the alliance and bent it to his will 鈥� even as he continues to spar with its members over the , his flirtation with , and various personal tiffs.
鈥淧resident Trump fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to 5% and do it with urgency,鈥� Matt Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, told reporters in a preview of the administration鈥檚 message before this week鈥檚 summit in Ankara.
Trump leaves Monday evening for the summit, and for days leading up to the trip has been airing grievances about how much the U.S. spends on defense compared with other countries. That鈥檚 despite efforts from , the alliance鈥檚 secretary-general, who tried to feed the ego of the tempestuous U.S. leader in an Oval Office meeting last month. There, he displayed large charts on easels showing what he called 鈥� 鈥� 鈥� how much allies had boosted their spending commitments since 2017.
Luke Coffey, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think thank in Washington, described the Ankara gathering as the 鈥渇irst report card鈥� after last year鈥檚 summit in The Hague.
鈥淚f NATO members play their cards right 鈥� if the leaders show up demonstrating a commitment and a reasonable plan to meet these spending targets 鈥� then it鈥檒l allow President Trump to take a victory lap,鈥� Coffey said.
Trump will meet with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy
Trump left last month鈥檚 in France from his counterparts for his interim agreement . He praised unity among leaders 鈥� who also worked to bring Trump onside to boost security assistance for Ukraine in its fight with Russia.
That war, now in its fifth year, is expected to be a key focus at the Ankara summit. The White House said Trump will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday. Trump spoke with both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 4.
Trump also plans to meet on the sidelines of the summit with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa. The White House has not provided goals for that discussion, but it comes as Trump has playing a bigger role fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Al-Sharaa, who led an Islamic insurgent group and whose rebel forces ousted former Syrian President Bashar Assad, has said he has no interest in doing so.
The U.S. president also plans a separate meeting with Turkish President , the host of the summit whom
But he has no bilateral meetings planned with other leaders. Despite the positive tone of the G7 summit, Trump resurrected feuds as soon as he returned stateside.
He proclaimed that would resign as British prime minister before the embattled leader made it official, arguing that Starmer 鈥渇ailed badly鈥� on immigration and energy. Meanwhile, Trump asserted that Italian Prime Minister had begged him for a photo, prompting a by her and the cancellation of a U.S. visit by the country鈥檚 foreign minister.
Despite the fallout, Trump egged it on further on Sunday when he posted a photo on social media of Meloni smiling at him, along with the words 鈥淩ESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED.鈥�
Trump has remained on tense terms with Canadian Prime Minister , and while French President charmed Trump with at the Palace of Versailles last month, it hasn鈥檛 always been smooth between the two leaders.
Aware of those tensions, a bipartisan group of senators is again headed to the summit this year, trying to represent the broad support for the alliance on Capitol Hill and to serve as a counterweight to Trump鈥檚 often caustic attitude toward NATO.
鈥淭hey 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,鈥� said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who is leading the delegation to Ankara. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 part of what Congress understands that the administration doesn鈥檛 seem to.鈥�
Trump鈥檚 team is making the case for more NATO changes
The summit comes as Trump鈥檚 administration makes the case for what it calls 鈥淣ATO 3.0,鈥� which envisions an alliance that has Europe taking on more of its security needs, allowing the U.S. to shift its focus elsewhere.
The strategy was , a U.S. undersecretary of defense, earlier this year at a gathering of NATO defense ministers.
Then, in a scathing speech to other NATO defense ministers last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth added to the pressure by announcing that the U.S. will conduct a six-month review of its forces in Europe. This surprised countries in the alliance that had anticipated coordinating with the Trump administration through the transition.
Trump himself sparked much confusion earlier this year when he seemed to on the issue, announcing that he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland weeks after ordering the same number of forces pulled out of the continent.
Shaheen said the NATO 3.0 concept 鈥渇ails to understand — as this administration has consistently failed to understand — the threat that Putin and Russia are to Europe and subsequently to the United States.鈥�
Europe is boosting spending, but still counts on the U.S.
The U.S. president last year was in a broad target reached in The Hague for NATO countries to spend 5% of their GDP on defense over the next decade.
Of that, 3.5% would be for core defense spending and the rest would be related expenses, such as infrastructure. Spain said at the time that it couldn鈥檛 meet those levels, and some others have voiced reservations about the ambitious goal.
Despite the increased pledges and spending, experts say many parts of the continent are nonetheless reliant on the U.S. for their defense should they come under attack. The defining feature of the NATO alliance is the view that an armed attack on one member is an attack on all.
鈥淭his is the reality for most Europeans,鈥� said Liana Fix, senior fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations. She said most are far from being able to defend themselves without the United States, 鈥渆ven if they鈥檙e starting to develop all that.鈥�
Apart from the spending pledge, NATO has worked to accommodate Trump in other ways.
The alliance earlier this year introduced a NATO-led military exercise aimed at countering Russian and Chinese activities in the region. It鈥檚 also meant to address Trump鈥檚 repeated , since the Republican president has insisted the U.S. needs to acquire the semiautonomous territory of Denmark for strategic security reasons.
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Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in Washington and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.
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