Trump heads to Ankara for NATO summit

Throughout both of his terms, Trump has sought to coax the European members of the alliance to increase defense spending and to adapt to a reduced U.S. role in defending the continent.

By Ben Whedon

Published: July 6, 2026 9:27am

President Donald Trump is set to travel to Ankara, Turkey on Monday for a NATO summit as his efforts to prompt a reordering of the alliance have strained relations with its other members.

Trump is also slated to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the trip, according to the New York Times.

Throughout both of his terms, Trump has sought to coax the European members of the alliance to increase defense spending and to adapt to a reduced U.S. role in defending the continent.

The initiative has been met with pushback from European allies, many of whom have grown increasingly fearful of Russian aggression since the start of the Ukraine war.

Turkey, for its part, has been something of a rogue actor in the Mediterranean in recent years. Ankara has deployed troops to Syria and Libya amid civil wars in those nations, while Turkey has heavily backed Azerbaijan in its territorial disputes with Armenia.

Turkey's growing influence in the Middle East has increasingly worried foreign policy analysts and Israel hawks, many of whom have suggested that Ankara could face its own military reckoning.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent for Just the News. Follow him on X.