President Donald Trump has been hit with an immediate snub after arriving in Turkey for a NATO summit.
He landed in the Turkish capital on Tuesday and was greeted with the news that the alliance had awarded a $4.5 billion contract to the Swedish defense firm Saab rather than to the U.S. planemaker Boeing.
The alliance announced plans to buy up to 10 Saab GlobalEye surveillance aircraft to replace its aging Cold War-era Boeing AWACS planes. The move is an embarrassment for Trump, who has made buying American weapons a central demand of his NATO policy.
Trump has repeatedly pressed allies to spend more on defense and purchase U.S. equipment, and has threatened at times to walk away from the alliance entirely.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte—the former Dutch prime minister who sparked international mockery last year when he referred to Trump as “daddy”—moved quickly to try to soften the blow, framing the Swedish choice as practically American.
“Like its predecessor, GlobalEye is a transatlantic program, delivered by European and Canadian industries with essential contributions from U.S. industries. It is a real success story, again, made in NATO,” Rutte told delegates.
The spin was notable given the stakes. GlobalEye competed directly with Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail, a surveillance and command-and-control aircraft built on the 737 jetliner. NATO said GlobalEye was “mission-proven” without elaborating further. The alliance is now entering formal negotiations with Saab after making its provisional selection public.
Saab chief executive Micael Johansson valued the purchase at up to $4.5 billion and told reporters the company could begin deliveries by 2030 if a deal is signed soon. The final price has not been agreed upon but is expected to fall between roughly $400 million and $450 million per aircraft. The planes will be mounted on Bombardier Global 6500 business jets—Canadian-built frames that Rutte also made a point of mentioning.
Rutte’s damage-control instincts are well established. Just last month, he traveled to the White House armed with oversized charts to flatter the president in the Oval Office, touting what he described as Trump’s accomplishments to his face.
“I want to show you what this president was able to achieve,” Rutte said, rising from his chair to present his props. One chart highlighted European company investments that created American jobs. Another showed the surge in European defense spending since Trump began pressuring allies in 2017.
“This chart is about the Trump trillions,” Rutte told the president. “The Trump trillions shows you the increase Europeans and Canadians are paying into defense since you took office in 2017.”
The display, widely noted as one of the more theatrical examples of leaders trying to flatter Trump, came amid ongoing U.S. threats to reduce troop deployments in Europe.
Rutte has leaned into the approach more enthusiastically than most, earning memes, merchandise, and mockery for the “daddy” comment—which he made while discussing Trump’s role in resolving disputes within the alliance.
The White House has been approached for comment.
