US President Donald Trump arrives for lunch in the Rose Garden of the White House on Monday, July 6, 2026 in Washington, DC, US.
Shaun Thew | Bloomberg | getty images
President Donald Trump is heading to Turkey for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit as the alliance has been weakened by Russia’s continued military aggression in Ukraine and the US’ growing insistence that NATO members quickly increase their defense spending.
These serious concerns come on top of disputes over the US’s war against Iran and its prior attempts to annex Greenland, a territory of NATO member Denmark.
Trump is a central figure in all of those issues.
“I can imagine a number of issues where this could go wrong,” Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution told CNBC’s “The Exchange” in a preview of the summit on Monday.
O’Hanlon said positive outcomes of the gathering would include NATO moving toward sharing the burden of its military spending and finding more ways to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Progress on prior goals appears to be within reach: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in May The task ahead at the summit is to “translate Allied commitments into concrete results”.
But the likelihood of talks breaking down is high, as Trump has often vented his frustration about NATO, including its refusal to heed US calls for its members to help clear the economically vital Strait of Hormuz during its campaign against Iran.
“I don’t expect big things, but incremental progress and no setbacks would be welcomed,” O’Hanlon said.
Trump’s schedule
Trump is scheduled to arrive in Ankara on Tuesday afternoon after departing the United States on Monday evening, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told reporters in a call previewing the trip. Upon arrival he is scheduled to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then participate in a bilateral meeting with him after the arrival ceremony, followed by a NATO leaders’ dinner.
After a “family photo” with the leaders on Wednesday morning, Trump will join a working session, then hold talks with Zelensky and Syrian President Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa.
Trump will hold a news conference, then depart from Ankara for the White House, Kelly said.
Russian invasion
US President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One to depart from Reading Regional Airport in Reading, Pennsylvania, on June 23, 2026.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images News | getty images
On Sunday, Russia bombarded the Ukrainian capital Kiev with dozens of missiles and hundreds of attack drones, killing at least 11 people and injuring several, according to the Ukrainian president. Volodymyr Zelensky And media reports.
The attacks on the eve of the summit, which Zelensky is expected to attend, ensured that the war will be a pressing focus for the 32-member alliance, which has already branded Putin’s war in Ukraine a ‘war’.most serious threat For Euro-Atlantic security over decades.”
The day before the attack, Trump and Putin held a “business and constructive” phone call, which was initiated by the US and lasted about 90 minutes. Kremlin said.
Trump emphasized in the call that Russia and the United States could realize “the enormous potential for mutually beneficial cooperation” once the war in Ukraine ends, while Putin painted a rosy picture of Russian military efforts as “the real situation on the battlefield,” according to Putin aide Yuri Ushakov.
Trump also spoke with Zelensky that day, who later declared that the attacks on Kiev underlined Ukraine’s desperate need for additional military assistance – particularly from the US.
“The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror,” Zelensky said Monday morning.
He hopes to leave the NATO summit with commitments from member states to increase support for Ukraine’s air defense. He is set to hold a bilateral meeting with Trump in Türkiye on Wednesday afternoon, according to the White House.
But Trump, who has previously clashed with Zelensky and praised Putin, may not agree that the solution to four years of war is to further strengthen Ukraine.
When Trump was asked Monday morning why Putin apparently felt no pressure to avoid hostilities after his call, he insisted that the Russian leader genuinely wants to end the war.
“I think he feels the pressure,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “He wants to end it, and Ukraine wants to end it, and we are negotiating, and we’ll see if we can end it.”
Trump added, “Putin wants this to end, I will tell you that firmly.” He further said that the two men had a “good conversation”.
“And President Zelensky really wants to end it now. And we’re going to NATO, and we’re going to talk about it, and I think we’re going to get it. I think we’re going to end it,” he said.
“I don’t think there’s any great evidence that Putin is close to making a deal. I hope President Trump is right, but I haven’t seen the evidence yet,” Brookings’ O’Hanlon told CNBC.
NATO spending
Whereas NATO members had agreed to this only last year To increase its spending from 2% to 5% of GDP by 2035, the Trump administration is demanding that countries reach that goal sooner.
“The goal is for Europe to take over the traditional defense of the European continent,” Matthew Whittaker, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, told CNBC earlier Monday. “We’re not going away, we’re just doing less.”
A senior US official told reporters in a call previewing the summit that “billions of dollars of announcements” are expected on the sidelines in Ankara.