NATO summit exposes strains

NATO's European leaders sought to win US President Donald Trump's renewed commitment to the alliance at a summit in Turkiye on Wednesday, after he strongly criticized European allies as "disappointing" for their stance in the Iran war.

On his arrival in the Turkish capital Ankara on Tuesday evening, Trump lashed out at allies for failing to back the US over Iran, saying he might have boycotted the meeting had it not been for his friendship with the host, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"I was very disappointed with NATO," Trump said, singling out the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany and Italy for not doing enough to support the strikes on Iran.

He added that "we weren't treated well" by the allies, even as he reiterated that he did not want or need their help.

Trump also reopened old wounds, by insisting the United States should control Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory, and threatening to withdraw all US forces from Europe if the continent continues to reject the plan.

He said Greenland is "very important for the United States, but it's not important for Denmark".

"We need it for protection of the world, not just the United States …It doesn't help Denmark but it helps us," he said.

The US has already announced troop drawdowns in Europe, reduced the forces it allocates to NATO defense plans — including an aircraft carrier, aerial refuelers, fighter jets and drones — and begun a six-month review of its posture on the continent.

Responding to Trump's remarks, Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said her country is "ready to defend every inch of NATO, including our own territory", in the event of an attack, and would rely on allies to honor their mutual-defense commitments.

"We hope that all, including all allies, will respect the Greenland people's right for self-determination," she said, adding that the territory is "of course not for sale".

"One of the reasons why we have built NATO many, many years ago is if anything happens to one of us, then everybody should stand up for each other," she said.

The Ankara gathering was intended to showcase progress toward NATO's spending goals, Reuters reported. The bloc's secretary-general, Mark Rutte, said Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Denmark and Greece have already raised their outlays and that European members revealed a raft of arms deals worth at least $50 billion on Tuesday.

"There's no doubt about the commitment," Rutte said before chairing the summit, while noting that Washington expects "Europeans and Canada to bring their spending in line with the United States".

European leaders say they are stepping up to shoulder more of the continent's security, but insist on a predictable, orderly transition to prevent vulnerabilities in their defenses.

Even so, Trump has demanded "loyalty" and branded NATO a "paper tiger" after several allies refused to grant US forces unrestricted base access for strikes on Iran.

Spain becomes target

Trump singled out Spain as "a terrible partner in NATO" and renewed his threats to cut off trade.

"Spain is a wasted cause," he said."We don't want to do any trade business with Spain anymore. ... Cut off all trade with Spain, including visits."

In response, the office of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said it was treating Trump's statements as business as usual, adding that bilateral relations benefited both countries.

Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia was more blunt. "We are a sovereign, democratic country that defends multilateralism and peace," she said on X. "What's terrible is confusing diplomacy with bullying."

Reuters contributed to this story.