Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, Jul 6: US President Donald Trump is set to travel to Ankara on Monday to attend the NATO Leaders' Summit, where defence spending, burden sharing and strengthening the alliance's defence industry will dominate discussions.
According to the White House, Trump will arrive in the Turkish capital on Tuesday and will be welcomed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with an official state reception and honour guard ceremony before the two leaders hold bilateral talks.
The US President is also scheduled to attend the NATO Leaders' Social Dinner on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, he will participate in the alliance's official welcome ceremony, family photograph and working session before holding separate meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Trump is expected to address the media before departing Ankara later in the day.
US Ambassador to NATO Matthew G. Whitaker said the summit would assess how member nations are progressing towards the defence spending commitments adopted at last year's NATO summit in The Hague, under which allies agreed to work towards spending five per cent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defence.
Whitaker said President Trump expects all NATO members to move rapidly towards the target, arguing that the current global security environment requires stronger and better-equipped allies. He noted that member nations have already committed nearly 139 billion US dollars in additional defence expenditure, with around half of that amount expected to be spent on American-made military equipment, weapons and ammunition.
While describing the additional spending as a positive beginning, Whitaker said some countries had made greater progress than others. He highlighted Poland, the Nordic nations and the Baltic states as leading contributors, while noting that Germany is expected to reach the five per cent target by 2029. He stressed that every NATO member should demonstrate a clear upward trajectory in defence investment to ensure more balanced burden sharing within the alliance.
Whitaker also emphasised that expanding defence manufacturing capacity across North America and Europe would be critical to meeting NATO's evolving military capability requirements. He said Washington's long-term objective is for European allies and Canada to shoulder a larger share of the continent's conventional defence responsibilities, while the United States continues to meet its global security commitments.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the Ankara summit reflects the Trump administration's broader effort to reshape NATO into an alliance built on greater self-reliance rather than dependence on the United States. She added that leaders would also discuss defence procurement reforms aimed at strengthening military capabilities and expanding opportunities for American defence manufacturers within allied markets.
Senior administration officials said Trump's meeting with Zelenskyy would focus on ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. According to the officials, the battlefield has remained largely unchanged in recent months, increasing the urgency for renewed peace negotiations. They added that Trump is expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin after his discussions with the Ukrainian leader.
Officials also indicated that the summit could see announcements worth billions of dollars involving joint defence production, new manufacturing facilities and purchases of advanced US weapons systems. Over the past year, the United States has sold approximately 50 billion US dollars worth of defence equipment to European and Canadian allies, while American defence manufacturers currently have an order backlog estimated at 300 billion US dollars.
The White House further confirmed that the Pentagon's review of US troop deployments and military bases in Europe remains ongoing as part of Washington's strategy to encourage European allies to assume greater responsibility for regional security.
The summit comes as NATO continues to strengthen its collective defence posture in response to the changing security landscape in Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Although many member states have substantially increased defence budgets in recent years, several countries are still working towards achieving the alliance's latest spending commitments.