NATO Summit 2025: Key Players, Defense Spending Pressures, and Upcoming Agenda

NATO Summit 2025 set for July 7-8 in Ankara

This year’s summit holds significant importance as U.S. President Donald Trump is pressuring European allies to increase defense spending. The gathering of 32 leaders comes amid growing uncertainty due to Trump’s criticism of NATO’s spending and troop withdrawal from Europe.

All 32 NATO member states, including President Trump, are expected to attend the summit. Key leaders from UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Ukraine, and EU ministers will also participate in separate discussions during the summit.

The Summit will address key issues such as defense spending, Ukraine issue, Middle East, defense industry, and future of the alliance. During the summit, President Trump is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In last year’s summit, member states committed to boosting defense spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035, with 3.5 percent allocated for core defense and remaining 1.5 percent for resilience, infrastructure, and cybersecurity.

According to a draft text seen by Reuters, “In 2025, European Allies and Canada increased their investments in core defence requirements by more than $139bn,” leaders are expected to say in a summit declaration. The US is also ramping up pressure on European allies to expand domestic defense industrial capacity.

The focus of the summit will be scaling up defense production, innovation, and weapons buildup. A defense industry forum will host deals worth billions during the summit.

NATO leaders are expected to reaffirm their military support for Ukraine, pledging €70bn in military equipment, assistance, and training by 2026. Additionally, Ukraine is expected to receive funding from EU loan facility and bilateral pledges for defense investment and procurement for 2026-2027.

President Erdogan is expected to leverage upcoming bilateral talks with President Trump to advocate for several key defense priorities, including advancing procurement projects like the SAMP/T missile defense system and seeking the formal removal of US sanctions on Turkey.