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The United States remains a “proud” member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but President Donald Trump expects allied nations to increase their defense commitments at the upcoming NATO Summit in Ankara, Permanent Representative of the United States to NATO, Ambassador Matthew Whitaker said during a summit preview call on July 5.
“The United States remains a proud NATO member, and I continue to show up every single day doing the important work at the alliance on behalf of President Trump, but we have responsibilities elsewhere in the world,” Whitaker told White House reporters.
“As the world’s leading superpower, we need to be able to not only project power worldwide, but we also need capable allies that can join us and be interoperable, and also add to our power,” he added. “So, this Ankara Summit is really the time for our allies to step up, and I know that that’s what President Trump is expecting.”
Whitaker said President Trump will press NATO members to meet the alliance’s target of spending 5 percent of gross domestic product on defense. He noted that allies have already committed nearly $139 billion in additional defense spending since last year’s summit in The Hague, including about $60 billion for American-made military equipment. He added that many of those advanced capabilities can only be produced by the United States.
Referring to the 2025 Hague Summit, Whitaker said all NATO allies agreed to adopt the 5 percent defense spending benchmark, calling it a result of President Trump’s leadership. He said the Ankara Summit will evaluate members’ progress toward meeting that commitment while also assessing efforts to strengthen NATO’s core military capabilities as part of a broader shift in Europe’s defense responsibilities.
While describing the increased spending as a “good start,” Whitaker said progress has been uneven across the alliance. He cited Poland, the Nordic countries, the Baltic states, and Germany as leaders in expanding defense spending, noting that Germany is on track to reach the 5 percent target by 2029. However, he said several allies continue to fall short.
He said President Trump expects all NATO members to accelerate their efforts and establish a sustainable path toward meeting the spending target as soon as possible in what he described as an increasingly dangerous global security environment.
Whitaker also stressed the importance of strengthening the defense industrial base on both sides of the Atlantic to support the higher spending commitments. He said expanding production of both conventional military systems and innovative defense technologies is critical to achieving NATO’s objectives.
“We expect all allies to demonstrate meaningful upward trajectories, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in defense spending that results in a fair burden sharing, our goal continues to be shifting the burden of the conventional defense of Europe to our European allies in Canada,” Whitaker said.
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary, Anna Kelly said the Trump administration has initiated what she described as a “fundamental and historic shift” in NATO, moving the alliance from a “model of dependency” on the United States to one centered on “real burden sharing and self-reliance.”
Kelly said the approach, which she referred to as NATO 3.0, is intended to return the alliance to its founding mission of providing a “strong and credible defense” of Europe, with European nations taking the “lead.”
“As always, Americans can expect President Trump to bring more deliverables home to our country,” she said. “The United States and our NATO partners will discuss frameworks to do procurement of key capabilities and ways for American companies to accelerate and showcase our products, which are the best in the world across the alliance.”
Responding to a question about Greenland, a senior administration official said all NATO members recognize the island’s growing strategic importance and agree that its security has become more critical than at any time since the 1951 U.S.-Greenland-Denmark defense agreement.
The official said the governments of Greenland, Denmark, and the United States are seeking a permanent solution to the issue.
Addressing President Trump’s proposal that the United States acquire Greenland, the official said, “We still think that’s the best way to meet the defense needs of NATO with respect to Greenland, but we’re also exploring with them all other mechanisms to address those concerns. Also to emphasize there really is no disagreement amongst any NATO allies about the importance of the defense considerations of Greenland. It’s about how to solve them and how to solve them permanently.”
According to the White House, President Trump will depart Washington on Monday evening and arrive in Ankara on Tuesday afternoon, where he will be welcomed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The two leaders are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting following a state arrival ceremony and honor guard review. Later that evening, President Trump will attend a NATO leaders’ social dinner.
On Wednesday, President Trump will participate in the official welcome ceremony, a family photo, and a NATO leaders’ working session. He is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa before concluding the visit with a press conference and returning to Washington on Wednesday evening.
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