Nato leaders meet in Turkey for summit after Trump renews calls for US to take over Greenland – Europe live

Rutte says he understands Trump’s frustrations, but insists these are “isolated” cases, with many European countries helping out. He very softly pushes back on some specific countries that Trump named earlier, including Germany and France.

Trump comes back with pointed criticism of the UK which “would not let us use the island for two weeks,” and Italy being “very bad.”

But Rutte says that Trump “even got Spain to pay ۲%.”

On Greenland, Rutte says the pair agreed at Davos to increase US military presence there, and he pledges to “make sure that deal is step by step being implemented.”

But this only triggers Trump to go again and say Greenland is “very important for the US, but it’s not important for Denmark” (that’s not true).

He then goes on a rant about the second world war and Nazis in Denmark, before coming back to say he is “very unhappy with Nato.”

Rutte comes back with over-the-top praise for Trump, which makes the US president go “that’s why I like him.”

Trump also says “Greenland is a big problem for us,” as he laments that the US is spending so much money “to protect these countries from Russia,” but doesn’t get anything in return.

He says Nato countries “have not treated us right,” and the US has “been treated unfairly; we pay disproportionately.”

He says only some smaller countries wanted to help with Iran, because “they are the most vulnerable” on Russia, and understand what is at stake.

“I am very upset with Nato that we pay far, far too much,” he says.

Trump repeats that he is “not happy with Nato because of what they did with Greenland” and they refusal to help with Iran.

He says he spoke to several countries who didn’t help.

But he particularly lashes out against Spain, saying he “does not want to do anything” with Spain, as he instructs his officials to “cut all trade with Spain.”

“Spain is a terrible partner in Nato. They don’t participate, they don’t pay, I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, including visits. We don’t want anything. Watch them come running back, oh, they will come running back.”

Trump is now speaking, meeting with Nato’s Rutte.

He says they had “some great meetings” last night, particularly praising the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Speaking about Nato summit, he says “something has been determined, and some haven’t frankly.” God knows what that means.

He briefly turns to Iran, he says they are “very dangerous” and “sick” for “shooting rockets at ships, and so we hit them very hard last night.”

He says the Iranians are “dirty players,” who “go after everyone, probably including me,” as he calls them “scum”.

“They are evil people,” he says.

As the official programme is about to start in Ankara, you can follow the summit with us here:

But I will also obviously bring you all the latest here, so don’t feel you have to watch it. I will make sure you don’t miss a thing.

Arriving early for the summit, Nato’s Rutte said the meeting was “about implementation, about getting it done” after last year’s push to increase defence spending.

He said that European allies and Canada were “stepping up” with more money, more jobs, and more capacity, but there is still more to be done.

“If you look at it from the United States perspective, you will have European allies which are much more capable, with the US, to work together in Nato to keep one billion people safe,” he said, repeatedly praising Trump for pushing Europe to do more.

Rutte also said the meeting was about reiterating the alliance’s support for Ukraine, expecting the leaders to agree on “a strong commitment to keep supporting Ukraine.”

He said he expected the leaders to “acknowledge collectively that Russia is the long-term threat” to Nato.

Let’s see how it all unfolds with grumpy Trump in the audience though. But Rutte insisted the US president was still “completely committed” to the alliance, despite his comments last night suggesting otherwise.

Morning opening: What could possibly go wrong?

Jakub Krupa

Nato leaders are meeting in Ankara, Turkey today for what was meant to be a “Trump-proof” summit: short and sweet, with little space for any drama or outbursts from the notoriously unpredictable US president.

Yeah, good luck with that.

Even before the summit proper began, Trump lashed out against several Nato allies saying he was “very disappointed” that “they were not there” for the US on Iran, threatened to pull out US troops from Europe, and repeated his claim that Greenland should be controlled by the US, not Denmark.

That’s a good start.

Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen was forced to say this morning that her country was “ready to defend” Greenland if needed, reiterating the territory was “not for sale.”

Expect more of the same today, as Trump is due to show up shortly, accompanied by secretary general Mark Rutte, who has the impossible job of keeping him on side.

The formal welcome ceremony gets under way shortly at ۱۰:۴۵am Turkish time (that’s ۸:۴۵am UK time, and ۹:۴۵am CEST), where we will get all sorts of official photos.

The proper session starts at ۱۱.۱۵ (۹:۱۵am UK), and will last only for a few hours. We are then going to hear from leaders about how well (or not) it went.

I will bring you all the latest here.

It’s Wednesday, ۸ July ۲۰۲۶, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.