NATO's Ankara Summit: A Wasted Opportunity and Growing Distrust in US

NATO leaders concluded their annual summit in Ankara with a sense that these meetings are no longer worthwhile as long as Donald Trump is US president, reports POLITICO Europe. The summit declaration was a one-page, boilerplate statement containing no significant decisions. Although Trump was reportedly genial during the three-hour leaders' meeting and praised allies for increasing defense spending, he unleashed a barrage of invective against those same countries in front of cameras. He scolded Britain, France, Germany, and Belgium for not helping during the war in Iran, called Spaniards "hopeless, bad people" and ordered an immediate halt to trade with Spain, and again claimed Greenland should be part of the US.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte went to great lengths to ensure the summit ran smoothly, including defending Trump's decision to go to war in Iran against the views of nearly all other NATO members and traveling to Washington multiple times to persuade Trump of NATO's value. The summit's core aim, according to Lithuania's foreign minister, was to make it "as boring as it could be." This is not what summits are for, as they should resolve differences and make decisions.

Previous summits, such as Madrid 2022 and Vilnius 2023, produced significant outcomes, including a new strategic concept and defense plans. Ankara had no such purpose. Author Ivo Daalder argues that instead of trying to appease Trump, Rutte and other European leaders should have spent the past year defining a roadmap for Europe to take over core responsibilities for NATO's defense, including replacing US forces, filling intelligence gaps, and assuming key command positions. The US is no longer a reliable ally, and Europe must take greater responsibility for its own security, regardless of who is in the White House.