United States President Donald Trump has declared he is “very disappointed with NATO” on the first day of a summit of leaders of the mutual defence alliance in Turkiye that exposed tensions over European defence spending, the Russia-Ukraine war and the future of Greenland.

Trump arrived in Ankara on Tuesday for the summit along with other NATO leaders. The main session will be on Wednesday.

The summit comes at a fragile time for the 77-year-old alliance, which has seen Trump sow discord over Iran, Greenland and Washington’s commitment to protecting fellow members.

After criticising NATO allies during a news conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump said that if the summit “weren’t held in Turkiye, where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, it’s possible that I wouldn’t have attended”.

Trump also named European countries who he perceived as unsupportive during the US-Israel war on Iran, saying, “We weren’t treated well because we did something in Iran.”

“Why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars when they’re not there for us? We’ve always been there for them,” he said.

“Italy turned us down, and Germany turned us down, and France turned us down.”

The US president cast a brighter eye toward Ankara, remarking on the “chemistry” between the US and Turkiye, vowing to remove sanctions and saying he would soon decide about the potential sale of F-35s.