President Trump threw the summit of NATO leaders into disarray ‌as he demanded the US cut trade ties with Spain and made renewed claims on Greenland, irking another NATO ally Denmark.

Speaking in the Turkish capital Ankara, Trump called Madrid a “terrible partner” in NATO ‌as he railed against allies for not supporting the war on Iran and ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt all trade with Spain.

Trump’s remarks, also declaring the fragile ceasefire with Iran to be over, overshadowed a summit that ‌European leaders had hoped would project unity and support for Ukraine and cap a series of rows that have threatened to tear the military alliance apart.

Trump spoke alongside NATO Secretary Mark Rutte, who has assiduously tried to assuage his concerns over defence spending, Iran and Greenland, while lavishing praise on the president for bringing such issues to the fore.

They also undercut the carefully crafted pre-summit messaging that European NATO countries had stepped up to the plate on military spending, which saw at least $US50 billion ($72 billion) in defence initiatives unveiled on Tuesday.

Washington and Madrid have been at loggerheads, with Spain explicitly rejecting Trump’s demands for European countries to sharply increase military spending and pay for their own defence. ‌

Madrid’s Socialist leadership has ‌also refused to let the US use ⁠its airspace or bases on its territory for the Iran war.

“Spain is a wasted cause. We don’t want to do any trade business ​with Spain any more,” Trump said.

“By the way, I’d like to cut it off. Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate, they don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, including visits.”

In response, the office of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said it was treating Trump’s statements as business as usual, adding that bilateral relations benefited both countries.

Asked about Trump’s remarks, a NATO diplomat said: “The answer to every question POTUS raises is clear: build a more European NATO. That’s ⁠what we’re doing in Ankara.”

The US has unleashed new military strikes on Iran and revoked a ‌licence allowing Iran to sell ​oil in response to attacks on three tankers.

It was the latest blow to a fragile ceasefire agreement in a war that is deeply unpopular in Europe.

“It’s a very interesting question. To me, I think ​it’s over. I don’t ‌want to deal with them,” Trump said when asked whether the interim accord with Iran that envisaged hammering out a long-term peace deal by mid-August was over.

“They’re scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick ​people.”

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them,” he said.

Rutte defended the new US strikes and played down Trump’s disappointment with allies over the Iran war as “isolated cases”.

“I think what you did last night was absolutely necessary. It was a very strong response,” Rutte told Trump.

He also praised Trump for making European countries raise ​their game on defence spending.

“It’s really important when it comes to NATO, what you have achieved, and this is ‌a huge win,” he said.

Trump has accused European nations of failing to let US forces use their airspace and bases on their territories during the war.

European officials have said they largely honoured their commitments to US forces, despite not having been consulted about a conflict that roiled their economies.

Trump also demanded that his country control Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, reviving an issue that has put severe strain on the alliance that has underpinned Western security since the start of the Cold War.

Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen reminded Donald Trump that Greenland is not for sale. Photo: AAP

“Greenland is very important for the United States, but it’s not important for Denmark,” he said.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reiterated ​that Greenland was not up for grabs.

“We are ready to ⁠defend every inch of NATO, including our own territory,” she said.

Trump sees ‘tremendous unity’

US President Donald Trump ‌later told reporters there has been “tremendous unity” at the NATO summit and also promised to ‌increase ‌US military ⁠production.

“They (European countries) want the ​American equipment, because it works better,” Trump told a press conference.

“I provided other leaders with an update on ⁠the ‌steps ​we’re taking to rapidly scale up ​production in the ‌United States. And they wanted ​to hear that because they don’t really want to ​get it ​in four ​years, five years, they ‌want to get it like in a week.”

Disagreements between Trump and ‌other NATO leaders showed ‌the alliance’s democratic strength and should serve as a lesson ‌for Russian President ‌Vladimir ⁠Putin, NATO boss ​Mark Rutte said after the summit finished on Wednesday.

In ⁠an ‌interview with ​Reuters, Rutte also ​said there was no need to ​change the way he deals with ​Trump, ​despite ​accusations that he ‌lavishes praise on the US president and fails to ​push back on his ​criticism ⁠of allies.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would use a summit of Ukraine’s allies next week to unveil new defence initiatives and joint military ‌exercises, presenting the gathering as further evidence that Europe was assuming greater responsibility for its own security.

More than seven years after declaring the NATO military alliance was suffering from “brain death,” Macron said at the summit in Ankara on Wednesday that Europe had shown it was investing more in defence, defending its sovereignty and developing strategic autonomy within NATO.

As he enters the final year of his presidency, Macron used the Ankara summit to argue that many of the changes he had long advocated were now taking shape, from higher European defence spending to a greater operational role within the alliance and efforts to build ⁠a stronger European defence industrial base.

“France has long advocated that Europeans must support ‌and defend a ​European defence industry. If we spend more, it should not simply be to buy non-European equipment,” he said.

Macron said Europe was developing its own ​missile-defence systems, long-range precision-strike ‌capabilities, early-warning networks and artificial-intelligence-enabled command systems.

He sought to play down lingering concerns over the US commitment to the alliance, saying Trump had reiterated his support ​for NATO in closed-door discussions despite periodic public criticism of allies.

“The United States has announced a redeployment of its efforts, which seems entirely legitimate to me, and Europeans must organise themselves accordingly,” Macron said.

“But we should not do this because someone asks us to. We should ​do ​it for ourselves.”

Since taking office, Macron has sought both to deepen France’s role within NATO and to strengthen what he describes as a European pillar of the alliance.

—AAP