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Live updates: Trump and Turkey’s Erdoğan meet as NATO summit kicks off
By NBC News - 7/7/2026, 10:11 AM - 1,201 words
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Live updates: Trump and Turkey’s Erdoğan meet as NATO summit kicks off
President Donald Trump is in Ankara, Turkey, today for a two-day summit with other NATO leaders.
What to know today
NATO SUMMIT: President Donald Trump is in Ankara, Turkey, today for a two-day summit with NATO leaders who worry that his resentment over their loyalty and military spending will fracture the alliance.
He is beginning the trip with a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
HOT TOPICS: Among the issues that are expected to come up at the summit are Trump's demands that NATO members increase their defense spending, the organization's support for Ukraine against Russia and the U.S. war with Iran, which borders Turkey.
MELONI RIFT: The summit is also the first time Trump is expected to see Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni since he claimed last month that she "begged" for a photo with him at a Group of Seven summit in Italy — a claim Meloni vigorously denied.
DRONE WAVE: Ukraine launched more than 400 drones at the Moscow region overnight, the Russian capital’s mayor said, a day after more than two dozen people were killed by Russian attacks on the Kyiv region.
Trump said during a press availability with Erdoğan that he's been "very disappointed" with NATO as he attends the alliance summit in Ankara.
"If it weren't held in Turkey, where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, it's possible that I wouldn't have attended," Trump said when asked if he’s considering a drawdown of U.S. troops from Europe, which the president didn’t answer.
"I thought I had to attend because of the fact that, you know, I know he's gone all out," he said.
Trump then complained about NATO not assisting the U.S. with operations against Iran.
"We weren't treated well because we did something in Iran," Trump said.
"We don't need anybody's help.
I didn't even want the help. ...
They said they wouldn't be there, and we've invested trillions of dollars in NATO.
Why?
To protect European countries and others, Canada, etc., but to protect people, countries from, generally speaking, it used to be the Soviet Union, now it's Russia, and I say that's fine, but you would think that they'd be very willing to do something to help us, and they really weren't."
Trump told reporters that he and Turkish President Erdoğan would discuss trade and military issues.
He also expressed openness to the U.S. resuming sales of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.
Trump was asked by a reporter whether the U.S. would sell F-35s to Turkey.
During his first term, Trump excluded Turkey from the fighter jet program after Turkey bought an air defense system from Russia.
Trump said that the F-35 issue was "a decision we're going to make," adding that "we have a very good relationship."
"We have a better relationship with Turkey, and Turkey has been in many ways much more loyal than other countries that we think would be loyal, so something that we would consider," Trump said, going on to praise the F-35 jets.
"It's certainly something we will consider," he added.
Trump has arrived at the state ceremony honoring the start of his visit to Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan greeted the president as the president's limousine pulled up before an unfurled blue carpet, which was flanked by men in uniform.
Uniformed men on horses trotted ahead of the vehicle and also behind him.
The two men shook hands before listening to a band perform the U.S. national anthem as Trump saluted.
The two leaders then chatted as they proceeded down the long blue carpet toward the presidential compound, pausing to face cameras and shake hands before going inside.
Trump has landed in Ankara, Turkey, kicking off his NATO summit trip.
Later today, he will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Trump will also participate in a NATO leaders' dinner tonight.
Trump told reporters yesterday that he had a “good call” with Russian President Vladimir Putin the day before and that both Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy want to end the war in Ukraine.
“We’re going to be going to NATO, and we’re going to be talking about it, and we, I think we’re going to get it, I think we’re going to get it ended,” he said.
Trump is set to arrive in Turkey today for a summit meeting with NATO leaders who are worried that his resentment over their loyalty and military spending will fracture the alliance.
Trump will spend only about a day and a half in the company of NATO allies after having made it clear he might have boycotted the summit altogether had the host not been someone he admires, Turkey’s longtime president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Read the full story here.
Trump is set to appear alongside Meloni for the first time since last month, when he claimed that she "begged" him for a photo with him.
In response, she called his claim "completely fabricated" and questioned why "the president of the United States behaves this way with his own allies."
Trump escalated the feud Sunday on Truth Social, posting a photo of Meloni smiling up at him with text reading “restraining order needed.”
NATO this morning showcased a series of military projects worth billions of dollars in an attempt to convince Trump that U.S. allies are converting fresh defense spending into real firepower.
“It’s money well spent,” an energized NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told government ministers and defense industry officials on the sidelines of a summit in Turkey.
He was speaking at a defense industry forum billed as NATO’s “big reveal,” to the thrum of techno music and a slick video display.
NATO as an organization does not own any weapons — these are the property of the 32 member countries — but it does have a fleet of 14 AWACS early warning radar surveillance planes that are about 50 years old, along with some newer surveillance drones.
A deal to replace the aging planes was announced this morning.
Representatives from 15 nations shook hands and patted shoulders on a vast podium under the NATO logo as they announced a multinational effort to buy air-to-air refueling and transport planes from Airbus.
Then Rutte announced a four-country effort to purchase as many as five new Triton surveillance drones to add to NATO’s small fleet.
“It is genuinely made in NATO, and creating jobs on both sides of the Atlantic,” he said.
However no dollar figures were given and the display included some projects long since agreed.
Ukraine launched more than 400 drones at the Moscow region overnight, the Russian capital's mayor said, a day after more than two dozen people were killed by Russian attacks on the Kyiv region.
A total of 36 drones were destroyed as they were approaching the Russian capital, which has a population of 13 million, Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram.
The two sides have exchanged intensifying attacks in recent weeks, with the Kremlin stepping up assaults on Kyiv as Ukrainian attacks force a mounting crisis at home.
At least 28 people were killed in Russian bombardment of the Kyiv region yesterday, local officials said.