What's at stake at the NATO summit in Turkey

6 hours ago 1

NATO leaders hope President Trump's criticism of the alliance is aimed at getting Europe to spend more on defense. But some analysts fear Trump may have an ulterior motive.

Transcript

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

President Trump is attending a NATO summit in Turkey today. Speaking this morning at a meeting with the Turkish president, he reiterated his call for the U.S. to take control of Greenland. For NATO officials, this was yet another reminder of the tricky balancing act they face as they work to ensure U.S. support for the alliance amidst Trump's ongoing criticism of its value. But in the meantime, NATO members are also eager to emphasize business continues as usual, as WHRO's Steve Walsh found during a recent training exercise.

STEVE WALSH, BYLINE: About a week ago, the French naval vessel Dixmude was sailing off the North Carolina coast near Camp Lejeune.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: OK, be careful.

WALSH: The Navy called it the largest exercise ever held in the western Atlantic.

THOMAS: We deploy, as we see, with the Spanish, French and American amphibious ships for exercise. OK?

WALSH: Thomas is a French officer. French military policy is to only release first names. He says NATO partners are working closely together as they conduct beach landings and simulate handling mass casualties. But asked about the relationship between President Donald Trump and France's Emmanuel Macron, Thomas is more circumspect.

THOMAS: In French military, we don't say politics. So I don't have an opinion on that one, OK? Sorry for that one. I think you know - I think military is the same for USA, so we don't talk politics.

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WALSH: The Dixmude is carrying 160 officers in training from 16 different countries, including from the U.S. Navy. They spent two weeks off the coast of Norfolk. U.S. Admiral Doug Perry ran the exercise as head of NATO's Joint Forces Command - Norfolk. He, too, was just as diplomatic.

DOUG PERRY: While we have challenges of sorting where we've been in the past to what we need to be capable of doing in the future, we are stronger than we've been in years. I don't get involved in politics.

WALSH: But NATO is trying to adapt to the political climate created by the Trump administration. Soon after Perry leaves in September, a British commander will take over as head of the NATO command in Norfolk, which covers the Atlantic and the High North, including Greenland. It's a literal example of the Europeans taking a more direct role in the alliance. News of the change in command came during the 2025 NATO summit after President Trump declared that the U.S. may take Greenland by force. Matthew Kroenig is vice president at the Atlantic Council.

MATTHEW KROENIG: That was really unprecedented, the idea that a NATO ally would attack another NATO ally and really not just any NATO ally, but the United States, the leader of the alliance. And so that really - I think it's hard to underestimate how much that shook European leaders.

WALSH: The U.S. is reviewing the amount of forces available to Europe. As members prepare to meet in Turkey this week, there is hope among NATO leaders that the rhetoric is designed to push Europe to spend more rather than force a break in the alliance, Kroenig says. Ian Brzezinski, a resident fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, is not so sure. He fears the Trump administration may have other reasons to push allies to spend 5% of GDP on defense.

IAN BRZEZINSKI: Basically using burden sharing as a camouflage to hide the real intent, which is to have an absolutely minimal posture in Europe.

WALSH: Back in Norfolk, for the last day of the Navy training exercise, Captain Wolfgang Eckmuller, commander of the German frigate FGS Sachsen, says the alliance is stepping up.

WOLFGANG ECKMULLER: Absolutely. I think it's already happening. If you look at Germany, we boosted our defense budget by five times. And that's quite a huge thing in Germany. We're building so many frigates right now, and that's really impressive.

WALSH: Whether it's enough will be one of the questions answered in Turkey this week.

For NPR News, I'm Steve Walsh in Norfolk, Virginia.

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