ANKARA, Turkey — President Trump blasted his fellow NATO leaders Tuesday forward of the alliance’s annual summit — after receiving an over-the-top reception from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who welcomed Trump on the tarmac earlier than providing his motorcade a horseback escort by means of the Turkish capital.
“I used to be very upset with NATO, and admittedly if [the summit] weren’t held in Turkey, the place my buddy occurs to be a really robust chief… it’s doable that I wouldn’t have attended,” Trump advised reporters after arriving inside Erdoğan’s presidential compound.
Trump lavished reward on his host and scorn on outstanding European members of the alliance, after Turkish calvary riders — two brandishing American and Turkish flags — trotted alongside the Beast following Trump’s arrival in Ankara aboard the brand new Air Drive One.
The president even uttered a uncommon foreign-language greeting to the glory guard — translated to “whats up, troopers” — earlier than passing costumed re-enactors displaying off weapons and uniforms from Turkey’s lengthy historical past.
Erdoğan, who grabbed Trump’s arm as he escorted him throughout an aqua-blue carpet rolled out for the event, basked in his closeness to the US president as he tries to shut resumed gross sales of F-35 jets and enhanced standing as an in depth American ally within the area.
Trump praised Turkey for helping with the Iran battle whereas condemning the leaders of the UK, Italy, Germany and France for refusing base entry to assault Iran and balking at serving to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, saying “we weren’t handled properly.”
“We didn’t want any assist in any respect and in a approach I used to be testing individuals. I used to be testing to see whether or not or not they’d be there,” the president added three months after threatening to withdraw from the navy alliance.
“Italy turned us down, and Germany turned us down, and France turned us down. And that’s OK. However why are we spending lots of of billions of {dollars} they usually’re not there for us? We’ve at all times been there for them.”
It’s unclear how a lot Trump’s bitterness over the snubs will bear on the NATO summit, the place US officers say the president plans to prioritize boosting European protection spending, together with making a 5%-of-GDP spending pledge unveiled final yr obligatory.
Whereas taking reporter questions, Trump reignited one other level of rivalry by repeating his demand that the US purchase Greenland from Denmark — earlier than suggesting that “we might take away all our troopers out of Europe.”
“Nicely, that’s what damage my relationship with NATO,” the president mentioned of the controversy.
“Greenland doesn’t assist Denmark, Denmark doesn’t actually spend cash to assist Greenland, nevertheless it’s an vital half for the USA. And it’s surrounded by Chinese language ships and Russian ships,” he mentioned. “That ought to be managed by the USA, not by Denmark.
“And once they wouldn’t associate with it, and with all the cash we spend to assist them with Russia — and we don’t need to spend any cash, we might take away all of our troopers out of Europe, as a result of as you most likely seen, Europe is a really completely different place than it was 20 years in the past,” Trump added.
“And so they higher watch out with immigration and power — in the event that they aren’t cautious with these two issues, you’re not going to have a Europe anymore.”
