The U.S. label, and flags of the United States and NATO are displayed in front of seats at the NATO leaders' summit in Ankara, Turkey
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REUTERS/YVES HERMAN
NATO’s is considering foregoing next year’s annual summit, in part to reduce tensions with frequent critic US President Donald Trump and to avoid drawing attention to the host being one of the alliance’s lowest spenders.A discussion on moving away from annual summits has picked up steam this week as NATO leaders gather in Ankara, according to people familiar with the talks. Trump said he only came to Turkey’s capital because of his warm relationship with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and has used his appearance to once again belittle the military alliance and question its relevance.The president’s ongoing NATO broadsides have raised the prospect that next year’s summit, set to be held in Albania, could be postponed to avoid creating yet another platform for Trump to disparage allies, the people said, speaking anonymously to discuss the private talks. Albania has also been one of NATO’s spending laggards, failing to reach a long-standing commitment to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense until recently. NATO chief Mark Rutte would like to maintain an annual engagement to keep the alliance atop the global agenda, the people said, and has tried to impress Trump by touting large increases in allies’ defense spending. It’s not clear that strategy is working. Notably, the Ankara summit’s final statement, which leaders will endorse on Wednesday, won’t include a reference to next summit, according to a person familiar with the text. “The summit will be held in Albania, if it will be held next year or the year after is something that is under discussion,” top NATO military official Giuseppe Cavo Dragone told Bloomberg TV.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comPublished on July 8, 2026
