Trump's Demands Loom Over NATO Summit as Turkey Angles for Jet Engines

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has spent much of his nearly two years in the job trying to keep the United States committed to the alliance, using flattery to dissuade President Trump from acting on his threats, the South China Morning Post reported. Ahead of the July 7 and 8 summit, the report said, Trump's demands have moved from higher spending to something closer to political loyalty.

For Turkey, the summit is an opportunity. President Trump's visit to Ankara could help secure dozens of F110 fighter jet engines, though analysts say it will not resolve the longer-running F-35 dispute that has strained ties, Dawn reported. The two threads describe the same underlying shift, a United States that treats alliance commitments as leverage to be traded.

European members, meanwhile, are confronting the prospect of a smaller American security guarantee even as the war on their eastern flank continues. That combination is pushing the continent toward higher defense budgets and greater strategic self-reliance.

The summit will test whether flattery and arms deals can still keep a transactional Washington within the alliance it built.