President Trump is once again testing the NATO alliance. In Ankara, Turkey, for a two-day summit of NATO’s 32 member countries, Trump again questioned the U.S. role in the military alliance and reiterated his provocative desire that the United States should take over Greenland.
Trump has pushed for NATO countries to boost their defense spending, and much of the summit was expected to focus on plans by U.S. allies to increase military spending to 5% of their annual GDP by 2035. Ahead of Trump’s arrival, European leaders unveiled billions in arms deals at a forum billed as a “big reveal,” meant to showcase steps they are taking to meet Trump’s calls for higher spending on their own defense.
NATO said Tuesday that European allies and Canada had increased their core defense spending by more than 19%, or $90 billion, from 2024 to 2025, and five member countries are already expected to meet the 5% target for defense spending as a share of GDP this year, well ahead of the 2035 deadline. (Others are struggling to get there, or are reportedly stretching what counts as defense spending.)
“We’re already making remarkable progress,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said at a defense industry forum on Tuesday. “Here we are now, one year later in Ankara, already delivering results.”
Trump wasn’t celebrating. Asked by a reporter if he was satisfied with the progress NATO allies have made, Trump said he might have skipped the summit if not for his close relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO and threatened to have the United States withdraw from the alliance, and the Iran war has only strained relations further. Trump said he “was very disappointed with NATO” for not helping in the war effort. The Pentagon has announced troop withdrawals from Europe and a six-month review of U.S. forces and bases there.
“We’ve invested trillions of dollars in NATO,” Trump said. “You’d think that they’d be very willing to do something to help us, and they really weren’t.”
Trump specifically mentioned the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and France.
“Why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars, and they’re not there for us?” Trump said. “We’ve always been there for them.”
Trump has frequently complained about NATO and falsely claimed that allies haven’t supported the United States, questioning their commitment to Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which calls for member countries to come to the defense of any ally that is attacked. The only time that mutual defense clause was invoked was after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
Trump on Tuesday also raised his contentious desire for the United States to wrest control of Greenland from Denmark. "That should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark," he said, adding that the issue has hurt his relationship with NATO. He also jabbed at Europe’s energy and immigration policies. “If they’re not careful with those two things, you’re not going to have a Europe anymore,” Trump said.
The bottom line: NATO leaders sought to showcase their steps to increase defense spending, but Trump again raised questions about his commitment to the alliance by berating U.S. allies.