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President Donald Trump travels to Ankara, Turkey, on Tuesday for the annual North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit, where his administration plans to challenge European allies to increase defense spending and announce billions of dollars in U.S. arms agreements.
The two-day summit comes about a year after NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte jokingly referred to President Trump as “Daddy” during last year’s gathering.
Although Trump recently questioned continued U.S. participation in NATO following disagreements with allies during the conflict with Iran, administration officials said he intends to reaffirm America’s leadership role within the alliance while continuing to pressure members to meet defense spending commitments.
“The takeaway from last year’s NATO conference was ‘Daddy’s Home,’ and after this week’s visit, NATO countries will be forced to concede, ‘Daddy isn’t going anywhere,'” White House adviser Taylor Budowich said.
“President Trump has rebuilt NATO in his image and the body will be leveraged to serve the interests of the West, and not the interests of the world in spite of the West,” he added.
Last year, NATO members agreed to work toward spending 5 percent of their gross domestic product on defense by 2035, with 3.5 percent allocated to core military spending and another 1.5 percent dedicated to infrastructure and defense industrial capacity.
A senior administration official said the summit will include announcements involving billions of dollars in U.S. arms sales and that President Trump and Rutte will encourage allies to make the 5 percent target a binding commitment rather than an aspirational goal.
Another White House official said the president will closely examine whether countries are accurately calculating their defense spending commitments.
President Trump previewed his message last week by posting a chart on Truth Social showing U.S. military spending relative to other NATO members.
“Ridiculous for the U.S.A. to continue along this one sided path when the relationship is not reciprocal. They were not there for us!!!” he wrote.
The recent conflict involving Iran is expected to remain a major topic during the summit, although discussions may also focus on implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed between Washington and Tehran.
Trump is also scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the war in Ukraine and with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to discuss regional security issues.