President Donald Trump’s contentious relationship with NATO was on full display on Tuesday as he chastised the alliance meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is hosting NATO’s summit in Ankara. “I was very disappointed with NATO, and frankly, if we weren’t held in Turkey, where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, I think it’s possible that I wouldn’t have attended,” Trump said during a bilateral press conference with Erdogan. The president was particularly incensed that some NATO members criticized or refused to aid the United States during the Iran war, despite the significant financial backing of the U.S. in the alliance.
Even before touching down in Ankara on Tuesday, the Trump administration had signaled that the president would put pressure on NATO to provide evidence that members had plans to spend at least 5% of their gross domestic product on defense. “We weren’t treated well because we did something in Iran, we don’t need anybody’s help,” Trump said. “I didn’t even want the help, but before I asked, they said they wouldn’t be there, and we’ve invested trillions of dollars in NATO.” Trump took aim at outgoing U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other European leaders as examples of NATO members not aiding the U.S. during the war.“He said, ‘No, we’ll help after the war is over.’ I said, ‘I don’t need that kind of help.’ We didn’t need any help at all,” Trump said. “And, in a way, I was testing people. I was testing to see whether or not they’d be there.“Italy turned us down, and Germany turned us down, and France turned us down, and it’s OK,” the president said. “But you know, why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars, and they’re not there for us?”TRUMP HEADS TO NATO SUMMIT WEIGHING PENALTIES ON ALLIES NOT MEETING DEFENSE SPENDING DUES‘We don’t want to sanction friends’
