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’
Just moments after expressing his anger with Europe, Trump touted his relationship with Erdogan as a saving grace for his attendance at this year’s NATO summit.
The president heaped praise on his counterpart, suggesting that “Turkey has been in many ways much more loyal than other countries that we think would be loyal.”
“I have no concerns about anything having to do with Turkey’s relationship, I would say the relationship with Turkey right now is better, probably, than it’s ever been,” he said. “It was good in my first four years, but I think now it’s probably even better than that, if that’s possible.”
Some U.S. allies have questioned Erdogan’s emergence as a close Trump ally, consistently pointing to his autocratic tendencies, but Trump seemed particularly pleased with the country’s efforts to assist negotiations to end the war in Iran.
Furthermore, Trump, responding to a question from a Turkish reporter, suggested that he would remove U.S. sanctions on Ankara, a decision he attributed directly to his close relationship with Erdogan.
“We’re working very closely with Marco Rubio, very famous man, great Secretary of State, and with [Treasury Secretary] Scott Bessent, and with [War Secretary] Pete [Hegseth], and everybody else. We’re going to be taking the sanctions off. It’s time to do that,” the president said. “We don’t want to sanction friends. It’s very simple.”
Trump signals willingness to sell Turkey F-35 jets
Despite a congressional ban, Trump said he was mulling allowing Turkey to purchase F-35 fighter jets from the U.S.
“It’s a decision we are going to make,” Trump said. “Turkey has been, in many ways, much more loyal than other countries that we think would be loyal.”
Turkey was banned from purchasing the jets during Trump’s first term after it accepted Russia’s S-400 defense systems. But on Tuesday, Erdogan said about the jets that Trump “has made a promise on this.”
Erdogan also claimed that “President Trump has always been a man of his word, and hopefully with respect to the F-35.”
Several Republicans in Congress and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have already expressed reservations about the U.S. selling F-35 jets to Turkey. Yet when Trump was asked about the Russian defense system, he told reporters he had “no concerns” about the U.S.’s relationship with Turkey.
What’s actually changed in the Ukraine war?
Ukraine, well into four years of fending off the Russian invasion, will be a hotly discussed topic at the NATO summit.
Trump himself has begun changing his tune on Ukraine’s chances of actually winning the war, though he continues to pressure both sides to return to ceasefire talks as the casualties climb higher and higher.
The president told reporters on Tuesday that he spoke with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he’ll meet with on the NATO sidelines Wednesday, and Russian President Vladimir Putin before departing for Ankara. He additionally reiterated his past claims that both Zelensky and Putin “both want to get it settled.”
Still, the president was hesitant to say what specifically had changed to prompt Russia to end its offensive, instead describing his own desires to stop the bloodshed.
“I can’t stand watching what’s happening,” he said. “I’ve seen the pictures of those battlefields, and it’s a drone war, it’s a war of drones, it’s a whole new technology. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s carnage, and it should stop.”