Trump vents fury at NATO in public, then tells allies 'we want to stay with you' behind closed doors

Public fury

Donald Trump opened the NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday with a blistering attack on the alliance. "I am very angry with NATO," he told journalists alongside Secretary General Mark Rutte. He accused the alliance of mishandling Greenland and failing to assist Washington in the Iran war. Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy all came in for criticism for not helping, while Spain was singled out as a "hopeless case" of "bad people" with whom he wanted to cut all trade ties immediately.

I am very angry with NATO. I am not happy with NATO because of what they did with Greenland.

Trump also declared the Iran ceasefire understanding "over," calling Iranians "scum," "sick people" and "liars." The outburst followed overnight US strikes on 80 targets inside Iran and Iranian missile attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait.

Behind closed doors

Once the cameras were off, the message changed. Two separate insider accounts, cited by Reuters and AP, described a stark contrast. In the North Atlantic Council session, Trump did not repeat his threats against Spain or his vow to scrap the Iran deal, and he did not raise Greenland. Instead, he assured allies the United States would remain in NATO.

We want to stay with you.

The US president also signalled readiness to continue selling weapons to allies regardless of how they were used, according to the same sources. The White House did not immediately comment.

Greenland and Spain

Trump’s public fixation on Greenland drew a swift response. Rutte noted that the two had agreed in Davos to boost the US military presence there and promised to implement that step by step. Trump retorted that Greenland was "very important for the United States but not important for Denmark." Denmark’s prime minister had already repeated that the territory was not for sale. On Spain, Rutte pointed out that Madrid had doubled defence spending since 2023, but Trump remains aggrieved that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez refused last year to adopt a new 3.5 percent spending target.

Iran ceasefire collapse

The overnight military exchange and Trump’s remarks threw the fragile truce into doubt. Qatar called on all sides to respect the ceasefire. Trump’s language left little room for diplomacy: "As far as I’m concerned, it’s a waste of time dealing with them. They’re crazy. The matter is closed."

I want nothing more to do with them, they are scum. These are sick people, these are malicious, violent people.

European response

European leaders arrived in Ankara hoping to persuade Trump to keep the US inside the alliance. On Tuesday they announced arms deals worth at least 50 billion dollars, and Rutte recited the "Trump billion" – the extra defence spending Europeans and Canadians have mustered over a decade. The summit agenda also includes the alliance’s approach to Russia’s war against Ukraine.