This time last year US President Donald Trump pressed the EU Nato members to pledge a sharp rise in defence spending.

EU leaders who hoped this step would win Trump approval or at least a stretch of calm have been let down.

After threatening to exit Nato over European reliance on US defence outlays and then confronting Denmark about Greenland Trump is now angry at the limited backing for his campaign against Iran.

"They were not there for us!!!" Trump posted on Truth Social ahead of next week Nato summit in Ankara on 7 and 8 July.

He stated that Washington ties with the alliance are not reciprocal and called it absurd for the US to keep its one-sided link with Nato.

Nato allies will fear that Middle East events could upset the push for higher industrial output and larger defence budgets.

In The Hague last June Nato leaders set core defence spending at 3.5 percent of GDP by 2035 plus another 1.5 percent for security and defence projects including cybersecurity and infrastructure.

Yet the Trump administration looks ready to cut its European military footprint after US defence secretary Pete Hegseth announced a six-month review last week.

Burden-shifting not burden-sharing

Officials say burden-shifting rather than simple burden-sharing will dominate talks in Ankara as the EU and others must speed up domestic production of defence and security equipment.

The EU is moving to expand defence output and buying across the bloc through its 800bn-euro SAFE programme to cut reliance on US military supplies.

Industrial output will be the chief goal for Nato secretary general Mark Rutte who expects several large arms contracts to be finalised on the summit sidelines.