Affected by Trump, NATO is considering terminating its annual summit

According to Reuters, six sources have disclosed that NATO is considering ending the tradition of holding annual summits that has been in place for several years.

Since 2021, NATO leaders have held summits every summer. This year's summit will be held in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, from July 7th to 8th. However, according to a senior European official and five diplomats from NATO member states who spoke to Reuters, some member states want to slow down the pace of the summit.

A diplomat said that the summit originally scheduled to be held in Albania in 2027 is likely to be held in the autumn of that year, and NATO is considering cancelling the summit in 2028.

Another diplomat said that some countries are pushing for the holding of a summit every two years. No decision has been made yet, and the final decision lies with Secretary-General Rutte.

A NATO official, in response to a question from Reuters, said: "NATO will continue to hold regular meetings of heads of state and government. During the breaks of the summit, NATO allies will continue to discuss, plan and make decisions on common security issues."

Two sources mentioned Trump as a factor, but several other sources said there were other reasons as well.

A diplomat said, "Rather than holding bad summits, it would be better to reduce the number of summits. Anyway, we still have a lot of work to do and we know exactly what to do." Another diplomat believed that the quality of discussions and decisions is the true measure of the strength of the alliance.

This year's NATO summit seems likely to be filled with tense atmosphere as well.

After the NATO allies refused to provide the support that Trump needed for the war in Iran, Trump openly questioned whether the United States should abide by the common defense treaty of NATO, and stated that he was considering withdrawing from NATO. A few months ago, Trump also claimed to have sovereignty over Greenland.

At the summit in 2018, Trump threatened to withdraw from NATO in protest against the low defense spending of other NATO allies.