Donald Trump arrived in Ankara with more to celebrate than any US president has had at a NATO Summit in years. His European allies were spending far more on defense, turning their historic commitments at last year’s Hague summit into real defense capabilities. Trump deserves considerable credit for that.
His July 2025 decision to continue supplying Ukraine with weaponry, though paid for now by European allies, has contributed to the country’s war gains against Russia. During his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ankara, Trump praised the leader he had previously derided, calling Zelenskyy “ingenious” for his country’s deep strikes on Russia. Trump then followed this compliment by saying he would license Ukraine to produce the Patriot air defense missiles it so urgently needs, though he conceded he hadn’t discussed the matter yet with manufacturers Lockheed Martin and RTX Corporation.
Despite all that, until Trump’s press conference at the end of the summit, NATO watchers were gnashing their teeth at statements the president made about old grievances instead of NATO’s growing achievements. Trump blasted allies—Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom, in particular—for not doing more to support him in Iran or spending sufficiently on their own defense.
