Trump won spending promises from NATO last year. This week, he'll try to enforce them
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- Trump departs Monday evening for Ankara to press NATO allies on following through on the 5% of GDP defense spending pledge made at last year's Hague summit
- U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker said Trump "fully expects" all allies to "immediately" begin the path to 5% spending with "urgency"
- NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte displayed charts he called "The Trump Trillion" in an Oval Office meeting last month showing allies' spending increases since 2017
- Trump will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday to address the Russia-Ukraine war in its fifth year, following separate calls with Zelenskyy and Putin on July 4
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a six-month U.S. review of forces in Europe, part of the administration's "NATO 3.0" strategy to shift more security responsibilities onto the continent
- Spain said it cannot meet the 5% target, while Council on Foreign Relations' Liana Fix noted most Europeans remain "far from being able to defend themselves without the United States"
- NATO launched the "Arctic Sentry" exercise to counter Russia and China in the region, partly addressing Trump's repeated threats to seize Greenland from Denmark
Why it matters: The Ankara summit functions as the "first report card" on allies' 5% spending pledges, per Hudson Institute's Luke Coffey — and Trump wants a victory lap. Yet Spain already rejected the target and Hegseth announced a U.S. force drawdown review, meaning the administration is shifting burdens to Europe regardless of whether spending pledges are met, with the Russia-Ukraine war in its fifth year and a Trump-Zelenskyy sit-down on the agenda.
