President Donald Trump suggested in two recent interviews that he is seriously weighing the possibility of withdrawing the United States from NATO, citing frustration over what he views as insufficient support from alliance members during the ongoing conflict with Iran.
In an interview published Wednesday with the British right-leaning publication The Telegraph, Trump was asked whether he would reconsider the US’ NATO membership following the war
He replied, “Oh yes, I would say (it’s) beyond reconsideration. I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin knows that too, by the way.”
Trump reinforced his stance in a conversation with Reuters, stating he is “absolutely” contemplating withdrawal and previewing criticism of the military alliance in his upcoming primetime address to the nation Wednesday night.
“They haven’t been friends when we needed them,” he told Reuters. “We’ve never asked them for much … it’s a one-way street.”
His remarks come as NATO members have shown reluctance to deploy forces to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route that Iran effectively blocked in response to US and Israeli military actions.
Trump has consistently rebuked NATO allies for not stepping up. On Tuesday, he directed countries struggling with jet fuel shortages due to the Strait’s closure, “build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT.” He added on Truth Social, “You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us.”
A White House spokesperson, Anna Kelly, told CNN, “President Trump has made his disappointment with NATO and other allies clear, and as the President has emphasized, ‘the United States will remember.’”
Whether Trump could unilaterally pull the US out of NATO remains uncertain. A 2023 law passed by Congress requires either the advice and consent of the Senate or a separate act of Congress to withdraw.
Then-Sen. Marco Rubio, now US Secretary of State, co-sponsored the measure with Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine.
Sen. Thom Tillis, top Republican on the bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group, told ABC’s This Week last month that it is “factually not true” that Trump could exit NATO on his own.
“The president of the United States cannot withdraw from NATO. Now, having said that, the president can poison the well, the president can make it functionally defunct if he wants to,” he added.
However, a 2020 Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel opinion asserts that treaty authority rests exclusively with the president, leaving room for legal debate.
Trump’s ongoing criticism of NATO
Trump’s stance has puzzled NATO members, given the alliance’s foundation on collective defense. Article 5, stating that an attack on one is an attack on all, has been invoked only once in the alliance’s history, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, when over 1,100 non-US troops were killed in support of the US-led war in Afghanistan.
Trump has repeatedly questioned whether allies would “be there” if the US ever needed them, claiming in January, without evidence, that NATO troops “stayed a little back” in Afghanistan.
His criticism has intensified since the US and Israel launched operations against Iran on February 28.
“Beyond not being there, it was actually hard to believe. And I didn’t do a big sale. I just said, ‘Hey,’ you know, I didn’t insist too much. I just think it should be automatic,” he told The Telegraph.
“We’ve been there automatically, including Ukraine,” Trump continued. “Ukraine wasn’t our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. They weren’t there for us.”
While the US has provided military intelligence and facilitated European weapons purchases for Ukraine, no new support packages have been authorized under President Joe Biden.
Trump has singled out British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in his latest criticisms. Starmer initially denied requests to use British bases in offensive operations against Iran, deeming them illegal, though he later joined defense efforts after British forces came under attack.
Trump mocked the British military in The Telegraph: “You don’t even have a navy. You’re too old and had aircraft carriers that didn’t work.”
He also criticized Starmer’s domestic energy policies: “I’m not going to tell him what to do. He can do whatever he wants. It doesn’t matter. All Starmer wants is costly windmills that are driving your energy prices through the roof.”
Responding to Trump’s remarks, Starmer reaffirmed NATO’s significance, describing it as “the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen,” and emphasized that Britain “will not get dragged into” a war with Iran.
