US President Donald Trump has intensified his criticism of NATO allies in the days before the military alliance's summit in Ankara, Turkey, set for 7–8 July, calling America's relationship with the organisation "ridiculous" and "not reciprocal." In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump cited figures claiming the US spends roughly $999 billion on NATO — far more than the UK ($90.5 billion), France ($66.5 billion), Italy ($48.8 billion) and Poland ($44.3 billion) — arguing Washington receives "no benefit" in return. He also accused European allies of failing to support the US military campaign against Iran, writing that "They were not there for us!!!"

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who raised the issue with NATO foreign ministers in May, described the coming summit as "one of the more important" in the alliance's 77-year history, saying Trump's "disappointment" at allies' refusal to participate more actively in operations against Iran would have to be addressed. Under sustained pressure from Washington, NATO members had agreed last year to boost defence-related spending to 3.5 percent of GDP for core expenditures — plus up to 1.5 percent in other defence-linked areas — by 2035, though Trump has previously pushed for a target as high as 5 percent of GDP. The Pentagon's National Defense Strategy, released in January, signalled that the US intends to shift primary responsibility for regional defence to allies in Europe, the Middle East and on the Korean Peninsula.

Yet Trump's confrontational approach appears to be producing an unintended consequence: a more unified Europe. His public attacks on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — including claims that she had "grovelled" for his attention — prompted other European leaders to rally to her defence, thawing a longstanding frost between Meloni and her counterparts in France, Germany and beyond. A pivotal moment came in March when Meloni refused to allow US bombers to use a base in Sicily without parliamentary approval. By late June, she was included in a key Berlin meeting with the leaders of Germany, France, Britain and Poland, and held a bilateral summit with French President Emmanuel Macron — their first since the pandemic.

"Most of the mainstream leaders realise that Europe is getting squeezed between China and America, and so, if not now, then when?" said Sudha David-Wilp of the German Marshall Fund. "They need to act as a bloc in order to maintain Europe's place in the world." The shift is visible beyond Europe's largest powers: Trump's threats toward Greenland sparked protests in its capital Nuuk and in Copenhagen, while his trade policies and the Iran war have prompted even traditionally Trump-aligned nationalist parties to recalibrate. Far-right French politician Jordan Bardella, once an admirer of Trump, recently described the US president as "erratic" and "extremely unsteady."

The Ankara summit — gathering all 32 NATO member states, founded in 1949 — will be the first major test of whether this emerging European cohesion can withstand the pressure of face-to-face negotiations. For Meloni in particular, the stakes are high: a Pew Research Centre survey found that 83 percent of Italians have no confidence in Trump's handling of foreign affairs, and a national election must be held by 2027. As one political analyst put it, when voters feel the economic impact of distant conflicts, "they ask Meloni for the bill, not Trump."