{"id":34840,"date":"2026-07-09T20:50:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T00:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/ankara-nato-summit-leaves-big-trump-questions-for-europe\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T20:50:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T00:50:41","slug":"ankara-nato-summit-leaves-big-trump-questions-for-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/ankara-nato-summit-leaves-big-trump-questions-for-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Ankara NATO Summit Leaves Big Trump Questions for Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome back to Foreign Policy<\/em>\u2019s Situation Report, where your co-authors have somehow made it through not only another hectic multilateral gathering but also the first day without a World Cup match in weeks. They both plan to stay up late in Turkey to watch France play Morocco, though.<\/p>\n

Alright, here\u2019s what\u2019s on tap for the day: NATO takes stock <\/strong>after Trump\u2019s amicable departure<\/strong>, the U.S.-Iran cease-fire <\/strong>takes further hits, and Turkey <\/strong>has a potential fighter jet breakthrough. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Welcome back to Foreign Policy<\/em>\u2019s Situation Report, where your co-authors have somehow made it through not only another hectic multilateral gathering but also the first day without a World Cup match in weeks. They both plan to stay up late in Turkey to watch France play Morocco, though.<\/p>\n

Alright, here\u2019s what\u2019s on tap for the day: NATO takes stock <\/strong>after Trump\u2019s amicable departure<\/strong>, the U.S.-Iran cease-fire <\/strong>takes further hits, and Turkey <\/strong>has a potential fighter jet breakthrough. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Future of NATO 3.0<\/h3>\n

The pageantry has ended, the world leaders have left, and Ankara traffic is back to normal. And, notably, U.S. President Donald Trump\u2014despite some halftime hiccups\u2014left the NATO summit in Turkey\u2019s capital on a positive note.<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]here was tremendous love in that room,\u201d Trump said in his final press conference, where he largely avoided criticizing the alliance\u2019s other members like he has in the past. \u201cThere was tremendous unity in that room,\u201d he added, using a word that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European leaders had tried to repeatedly emphasize over the two-day gathering.<\/p>\n

And while those leaders will undoubtedly be breathing a sigh of relief at that sentiment(ality), keeping Trump happy wasn\u2019t necessarily their core focus this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way it all ended with the communiqu\u00e9 and the press conference, you could almost say it was business as usual with the Trump show on the side,\u201d Torrey Taussig, who served as a Europe director on former U.S. President Joe Biden\u2019s National Security Council, told SitRep in Ankara. \u201cUnlike last year in The Hague, where it really felt like everyone was holding their breaths to see what the president was going to say, my conversations with NATO officials but also allied officials were kind of shoulder shrugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

We heard a similar refrain from officials and summit attendees both in public and private\u2014that Europe and Canada are stepping up to do more to shoulder their burden within the alliance and secure their own defense without depending on Washington.<\/p>\n

They showed progress toward that goal in Ankara, but there are other looming questions that the alliance must face\u2014chief among them when and how a less-American NATO will actually materialize.<\/p>\n

\u201cLess on display at the summit but very much behind closed doors was: What does NATO 3.0<\/a> mean for the alliance going forward?\u201d said Taussig, who is now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t as much conversation about the [U.S. Defense Department\u2019s] force posture review<\/a> and how U.S. engagement and presence in Europe might look,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

A broken relationship.<\/strong> At last year\u2019s summit, there was a \u201cgenuine hope\u201d among NATO allies that \u201cmaybe if we flatter him [Trump] enough, it\u2019s all going to be fine,\u201d Nathalie Tocci, who is the director of the Rome-based Institute of International Affairs think tank and was in Ankara, told SitRep. But now, \u201cno one has any illusions about Trump anymore,\u201d Tocci said, and allies realize that the relationship between the U.S. president and NATO is \u201cbroken.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, they\u2019re in \u201cthe business of not revealing the fact that it\u2019s broken,\u201d she added, because they can\u2019t make that \u201cexplicit\u201d in the midst of the Russia-Ukraine war. They expect Trump to lob insults, and they let it happen\u2014because it could always be worse (such as Trump making good on his threat to withdraw the United States from NATO).<\/p>\n

NATO is now \u201cplaying a waiting game,\u201d Tocci said: working to minimize the chances for further blowups with Trump while hoping that \u201csomething will happen internally in the United States\u201d and that eventually there will be \u201can administration with whom one can work.\u201d<\/p>\n

So despite Trump\u2019s amicable parting words, NATO faces an uncertain future\u2014and it remains unclear if there will even be a summit next year. On Wednesday, Rutte confirmed that the next gathering will be in Albania, but he said a date has not been set yet. Tocci suspects this is because there\u2019s concern that Trump would not show.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t have a summit without the U.S., unless that\u2019s the summit to declare NATO dead,\u201d Tocci said.<\/p>\n

On the Button<\/h3>\n

What should be high on your radar, if it isn\u2019t already.<\/em><\/p>\n

U.S.-Iran cease-fire crumbles. <\/strong>The weekslong truce between the United States and Iran that began with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in mid-June appears to be on its last legs. The two countries exchanged fire for a second day in a row on Thursday. Iran\u2019s push for control over tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is at the heart of tensions, and the renewed fighting has rattled energy markets, as FP\u2019s Keith Johnson writes.<\/p>\n

At the NATO summit on Wednesday, Trump said he thought the cease-fire was \u201cover,\u201d but he also offered conflicting messages on what could happen next. He suggested that the United States wasn\u2019t necessarily returning to all-out war, but that strikes would continue. Sure enough, the United States announced fresh strikes on Iran mere hours after Trump departed Ankara. A report<\/a> from Axios, based on comments from a U.S. official, suggested that the bombing campaign could continue for days or potentially even weeks.<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s F-35 waiting game. <\/strong>One of the other big questions hanging over this year\u2019s NATO summit was how Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan might leverage his country\u2019s hosting of the summit and his close relationship with Trump.<\/p>\n

Trump said ahead of the summit that he would remove<\/a> U.S. sanctions imposed on Turkey during his first term in 2020 over its purchase of the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system. He also opened the door to reversing a ban on Turkey buying F-35 fighter jets from the United States. Doing so would require congressional approval<\/a>, as U.S. lawmakers passed that ban into law back when the sanctions were imposed. It would also face heavy opposition<\/a> from another key U.S. ally, Israel.<\/p>\n

Trump was a little more noncommittal during his final summit press conference on Wednesday. \u201cWe have to make a decision [on] who we give it to,\u201d he said, referring to the F-35. \u201cWhether or not we do that, I haven\u2019t totally made up my mind,\u201d he added, but he called Erdogan \u201ca great ally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snapshot<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n Crowds of mourners surround the convoy carrying the coffins of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and members of his family during a funeral procession ahead of his burial in Mashhad, Iran, on July 9.<\/p>\n

Crowds of mourners surround the convoy carrying the coffins of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and members of his family during a funeral procession ahead of his burial in Mashhad, Iran, on July 9.Atta Kenare\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span> <\/p>\n

Put on Your Radar<\/h3>\n

Monday, July 13:<\/strong> The European \u201cCoalition of the Willing\u201d for Ukraine begins a two-day meeting in Paris.<\/p>\n

Wednesday, <\/strong>July 15:<\/strong> The 10-year anniversary of the attempted coup in Turkey takes place.<\/p>\n

The Senate confirmation hearing for Todd Blanche to become U.S. attorney general is scheduled to be held.<\/p>\n

Thursday, July 16: <\/strong>The British Labour Party\u2019s leadership election is due to be completed.<\/p>\n

By the Numbers<\/h3>\n

59\u2014<\/strong>the percentage of U.S. Jews who hold an unfavorable opinion of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a new poll<\/a> of more than 1,000 Jewish adults by The Associated Press and Chicago University\u2019s NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.<\/p>\n

Quote of the Week<\/h3>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult\u2014there are a lot of Ukrainian drones in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, answering a question<\/a> from Trump on whether he would visit Moscow.<\/p>\n

FP\u2019s Most Read This Week<\/h3>\n

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot<\/h3>\n

You may recall from yesterday\u2019s SitRep intro that Trump abruptly decided to fly back from Ankara on the old Air Force One plane instead of his shiny new Qatari-gifted jet. The move was reportedly made due to unspecified security concerns, but Trump said during his press conference that it was so the new plane could fly to a few U.S. military bases in Europe so troops stationed there could admire it. \u201cWe\u2019ll be going home by normal methods,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But the U.S. president appears to have pulled a reverse switcheroo: switching back<\/a> to the Qatari aircraft at the United Kingdom\u2019s RAF Mildenhall base (after aforementioned troop admiration<\/a>) for his flight back to Washington. \u201cAs the president has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal \u2014 including distraction and misdirection \u2014 to address those threats,\u201d White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told<\/a> the New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to Foreign Policy\u2019s Situation Report, where your co-authors have somehow made it through not only another hectic multilateral gathering but also the first day without a World Cup match in weeks. They both plan to stay up late in Turkey to watch France play Morocco, though. Alright, here\u2019s what\u2019s on tap for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11611],"tags":[22783,721,7944,12371,11612,865,1488,9497,22102,4122,953,2749,473,5522,13399,11614],"class_list":["post-34840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spyballoon-global-news","tag-ankara","tag-big","tag-europe","tag-homepage_regional_europe","tag-iran","tag-leaves","tag-military","tag-nato","tag-nato-summit","tag-questions","tag-russia","tag-summit","tag-trump","tag-turkey","tag-u-s-military","tag-united-states"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",0,0,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",0,0,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",0,0,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",150,150,false],"medium":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",300,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",1024,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",1536,1536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",2048,2048,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",370,265,false],"kava-thumb-s":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",150,85,false],"kava-thumb-s-2":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",230,230,false],"kava-thumb-m":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",400,400,false],"kava-thumb-m-vertical":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",370,500,false],"kava-thumb-m-2":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",570,450,false],"kava-thumb-l":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",1170,650,false],"kava-thumb-xl":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",1920,1080,false],"kava-thumb-masonry":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",600,999,false],"kava-thumb-justify":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",640,640,false],"kava-thumb-justify-2":["https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285243061.jpg",1280,640,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"#RiseCelestialStudios","author_link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/author\/ralph-c\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"SPYBALLOON GLOBAL NEWS<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Welcome back to Foreign Policy\u2019s Situation Report, where your co-authors have somehow made it through not only another hectic multilateral gathering but also the first day without a World Cup match in weeks. 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