Trump Targets Spain and Greenland as NATO Summit Strains Alliance Unity

ANKARA, The 36th NATO summit closed in the Turkish capital this week with a declaration of unity on paper and barely concealed alarm beneath it, after U.S. President Donald Trump spent two days targeting allies he accused of disloyalty over Iran and Greenland.

The summit, held on 7–8 July at Ankara's Beştepe Presidential Complex, was only the second NATO gathering ever hosted by Turkey. Secretary General Mark Rutte had framed it around three priorities: driving defence investment toward a 5 percent of GDP target agreed at last year's Hague summit, strengthening the transatlantic industrial base, and sustaining support for Ukraine. On each of those counts, the formal outcomes were substantial. According to the Ankara Summit Declaration published on NATO's website, allies pledged €70 billion in military equipment, assistance and training for Ukraine in 2026 and committed to sustaining at least equivalent levels in 2027. The alliance also announced more than $50 billion in new defence procurement, and separately a €27 billion investment to modernise NATO's fuel supply and storage infrastructure stretching to its eastern flank.

But Trump arrived in a combative mood and stayed there. He told reporters he was "very upset with NATO" over two issues: allied resistance to his desire to acquire Greenland, and the refusal of several European governments to back or facilitate his administration's military campaign against Iran. According to France 24's reporting from the summit session, Trump declared the fragile Iran ceasefire "over" and singled out Spain with particular ferocity, calling it a "terrible partner in NATO" and ordering Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt all trade with Madrid. "Spain is a wasted cause," he said, according to Al Jazeera's account of the session.

Madrid's objection that prompted the outburst was specific: in March, Spain had refused to allow U.S. forces use of joint military bases for operations related to the Iran conflict. That refusal sits inside a broader European reluctance that has visibly grated on Washington. As Defense News reported, Trump railed against allies for not supporting the campaign against Tehran.

The Greenland thread was no less pointed. Trump told reporters the territory "should be controlled by the United States," and described European resistance as "what hurt my relationship with NATO." Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen gave the only reply available to her: "Greenland is, of course, not for sale," according to France 24. Finnish President Alexander Stubb, measured as ever, suggested Washington think about Arctic security in coalition terms, telling CNBC: "Be more Arctic, be more cool."

Rutte worked visibly to hold the room together. He defended the new U.S. strikes on Iran, played down the bilateral tensions as "isolated cases," and sought to keep focus on what he called the concept of "NATO 3.0: a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO", an alliance, in his framing, less dependent on the United States without being abandoned by it. The Congressional Research Service, in a pre-summit briefing reviewed by Congress.gov, noted that European allies and Canada had increased core defence investments by more than $139 billion between 2024 and 2025, with every alliance member now meeting the original 2 percent of GDP benchmark, compared with just three members in 2014.

That progress did not appear to satisfy Trump, who on his return to Washington speculated about withdrawing U.S. forces from Europe if he did not get satisfaction on Greenland, according to the Atlantic Council's post-summit analysis. The summit communiqué, notably, did not commit to a summit next year, a silence that registered as deliberate among alliance watchers.

For European governments, the arithmetic of the past 48 hours is now familiar and uncomfortable: they can demonstrate compliance on spending, sign the declarations, and pocket the formal outcomes, and still emerge from a summit with new bilateral threats from the ally that Article 5 ultimately depends on. The unnamed NATO diplomat quoted by Defense News perhaps put it most plainly: "The answer to every question POTUS raises is clear: build a more European NATO. That's what we're doing in Ankara."

Sources cited:
- NATO Official Text, Ankara Summit Declaration (https://www.nato.int/en/about-us/official-texts-and-resources/official-texts/2026/07/08/the-ankara-summit-declaration)
- Defense News (https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2026/07/08/trump-turns-on-spain-and-demands-greenland-as-nato-summit-exposes-cracks/)
- France 24 (https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260708-trump-lashes-nato-allies-during-key-summit-ankara)
- Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/8/trump-threatens-spain-trade-demands-us-take-over-greenland-at-nato-summit)
- CNBC (https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/07/trump-nato-summit-greenland-us-troops-europe.html)
- Congressional Research Service via Congress.gov (https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R49018)
- Atlantic Council (https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/dispatches/eleven-takeaways-from-the-nato-summit-in-ankara/)