"There is a good story to tell," one envoy said. "The numbers don't lie"
European NATO allies are heading into this week’s summit in Ankara convinced they have a compelling case to present to Donald Trump on defence spending, industrial cooperation and aid for Ukraine, but diplomats privately acknowledge the president remains the biggest source of uncertainty.
Speaking in the run-up to the annual summit in the Turkish capital, diplomats said the two-day gathering should showcase allies’ increased defence spending and include a string of defence industry announcements, including new letters of intent, joint projects and more transatlantic co-production.
“There is a good story to tell,” one NATO diplomat said, pointing to a sustained shift in the alliance’s burden-sharing. “The numbers don’t lie.”
According to figures compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, military outlay by European countries that are also members of NATO rose more quickly than at any time since 1953 through last year, with Germany and Spain – two countries often singled out by Trump as laggards – seeing booms in defence spending.
