Trump heads to NATO summit in Ankara with defence spending high on agenda

President Donald Trump departed the White House on Monday evening US time for Ankara where he will seek to press NATO allies to accelerate defence spending strengthen burden sharing and expand defence industrial cooperation during this weeks alliance summitTrump is scheduled to arrive in the Turkish capital on Tuesday afternoon where he will be greeted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan He will participate in a State Arrival Ceremony and Honour Guard review before holding bilateral talks with ErdoganOn Tuesday evening Trump will attend the NATO Leaders Social Dinner On Wednesday he will join the official welcome and family photo before participating in the NATO Leaders working sessionHe will later hold bilateral meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Syrian President Ahmed alSharaa before holding a press conference and departing Ankara Trump is scheduled to return to the White House on Wednesday eveningAhead of the trip US Ambassador to NATO Matthew G Whitaker said the Ankara summit would measure allies progress towards the defence spending commitments agreed at last years Hague summit where NATO members adopted a benchmark of spending five per cent of gross domestic product on defencePresident Trump expects all allies to step up immediately and not only get on a sustainable path to the 5 but get to 5 as soon as possible in a very dangerous world that needs capable allies Whitaker saidTravelling with the President are Secretary of State Marco Rubio Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller Communications Director Steven Cheung Counsellor Mike Needham and White House Staff Secretary Will ScharfWhitaker said NATO allies had committed nearly 139 billion in additional defence spending since the Hague summit with roughly half of that being on Americanmade equipment and weapons and munitionsThats a good start but some allies are doing more than others he said pointing to Poland the Nordic countries and the Baltic states as leading the effort while noting that Germany was on track to reach the target by 2029He said the summit would also review how allies were expanding NATOs military capabilities and strengthening defence production on both sides of the AtlanticWe expect all allies to demonstrate meaningful upward trajectories both quantitatively and qualitatively in defence spending that results in a fair burden sharing Whitaker said He added that NATO members needed to invest at speed in both traditional defence systems and innovative technologies to meet evolving security challengesWhitaker said Washingtons goal remained to shift more responsibility for Europes conventional defence to European allies and CanadaThe United States remains a proud NATO member he said But we have responsibilities elsewhere in the world as the worlds only 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 powerWhite House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said the administration viewed the summit as another step in reshaping the allianceUnder this Presidents leadership the United States has initiated a fundamental and historic shift in the structure of NATO moving the alliance from a model of dependency on the United States to one of real burden sharing and selfreliance Kelly saidShe added that allies would discuss procurement frameworks to expand defence capabilities and ways for American companies to accelerate and showcase their products across the allianceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever