US to press NATO allies on defence spending, arms production data at Ankara summit

The United States plans to call on NATO allies to provide detailed data on military spending increases and arms production at the alliance’s upcoming summit in Ankara this July, according to Washington’s top representative to NATO.

Matthew Whitaker, the U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO, told Fox News that the meeting will focus on assessing allied commitments to defence investment and capability development. 

“We’re going to have a big summit in Ankara, Türkiye, this summer, where we are going to get a report card on what our allies have done and we are expecting significant investments from last year in The Hague,” he said. 

“The commitments are there politically. We need our allies to continue to move at pace, to continue to spend the money and turn it into real capabilities, real troops, real capacity to fight war,” he added.

Whitaker said the United States expects NATO members not only to increase defence budgets but also to convert spending into tangible military strength.

The statement comes amid ongoing efforts within NATO to boost collective defence spending. At the 2014 summit in the United Kingdom, alliance members agreed to aim for defence expenditure of at least 2% of GDP within a decade. By 2024, 22 of NATO’s 32 members had met that target.

At the June 2025 summit in The Hague, members further agreed to significantly raise defence spending goals, committing European allies to reach up to 5% of GDP in military spending by 2034.

By Sabina Mammadli