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U.S. President Donald Trump closed a two-day NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday by calling it "tremendously successful," heaping praise on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and declaring that the alliance's push to dramatically increase defense spending was firmly on track.
"We just concluded a very successful NATO summit here in Türkiye," Trump said at a closing news conference, adding that he wanted to thank Erdogan, whom he described as "a great man" and "a great leader."
The two leaders have maintained a close personal relationship over the years, and Trump made clear that dynamic colored his view of the gathering.
"He's a strong person, a very strong personality, and that's why he runs such a successful and good country," Trump said of his Turkish counterpart.
At the heart of Trump's remarks was a pointed message on defense spending, the issue he has made the defining test of allied credibility since returning to the White House.
He pointed to last year's NATO summit in The Hague, where allies made an unprecedented commitment to raise annual defense spending from the longstanding 2% of GDP benchmark to 5% by 2035, as having already produced concrete results. Defense spending by other NATO members surged by nearly $150 billion in 2025, he said, a figure he credited to the pressure his administration had applied.
In Ankara, Trump said the working sessions focused on how allies were tracking toward the 5% goal, distinguishing between those who had "truly answered the call" and those still making the changes required. He urged all members to move faster. "The benchmark is going to be that 5% number, that's the number it should have been for years," he said.
Beyond the spending figures, Trump struck a notably warm tone about the atmosphere at the summit itself, saying there was "tremendous unity" among the assembled leaders, a characterization that stood in contrast to the friction that has periodically shadowed his relationship with the alliance. He praised the summit a second time before leaving the podium, again thanking Erdogan by name.
Trump was also pressed at the news conference on his handling of the conflict with Iran, a question that briefly punctured the triumphalist mood. Asked why he had been unable to bring the war to an end, he pushed back sharply. "The Iran war has been a tremendous military success," he said, adding that the clearest measure of that success was his assertion that Iran would not acquire a nuclear weapon.
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