NATO chief faces challenge at summit as Trump demands 'loyalty' and not just burden-sharing

By — Lorne Cook, Associated Press Lorne Cook, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/nato-chief-faces-challenge-at-summit-as-trump-demands-loyalty-and-not-just-burden-sharing Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter NATO chief faces challenge at summit as Trump demands 'loyalty' and not just burden-sharing World Jul 5, 2026 2:24 PM EDT ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Since he started work as NATO secretary-general almost two years ago, Mark Rutte has spent much of his time trying to keep the United States anchored to the world's biggest military alliance, employing outright flattery to dissuade U.S. President Donald Trump from acting on threats to abandon it. But the goalposts keep shifting, raising the stakes ahead of this week's summit in Turkey. Initially, it was about money. Trump has long railed against NATO allies for spending too small a fraction of their national budgets on defense. But those problems were addressed at their summit last year, when U.S. allies committed to invest as much as America, in gross domestic product terms. NATO's real problem now is turning that money into military capabilities, particularly as European countries worry about a possible attack from Russia. WATCH: Trump meets with NATO Secretary-General Rutte in the Oval Office Still, Rutte tried to put to bed any lingering concerns at a White House meeting last month, with a new pitch using a chart labeled the "The Trump Trillion" in gold letters — showing $1.2 trillion in spending by European allies and Canada since 2017. But Trump appeared unmoved, saying he was still disappointed at some NATO allies' refusal to join the Iran war, which he had launched alongside Israel without consulting them. "We don't need their money — we don't need anything," Trump said. "I just want loyalty." Trump suggested he might have skipped the upcoming summit entirely were it not being hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It's a sign that even Erdogan and Rutte — foreign leaders Trump seems to hold in rare esteem — will have their work cut out for them in keeping the summit on track. Rutte set a new marker for flattery at the White House Historically, the prime tasks of NATO's top civilian official — always a European, never an American — have been to encourage consensus in an organization that makes its decisions unanimously, and to speak on behalf of all 32 member countries. But during both of Trump's terms, Rutte and his predecessor at the helm of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, have dedicated a huge amount of energy just to keep the United States inside their alliance. READ MORE: Hegseth appears out of step in criticisms of NATO allies Trump has threatened to leave NATO, dallied with pulling U.S. troops out of Europe and vowed to take over the island of Greenland — a semiautonomous part of ally Denmark. He has cast doubt over whether he would defend another member not spending enough on their mil