Trump says he is strongly considering pulling the U.S. out of NATO, the U.S.-led military alliance that has been a cornerstone of the international order since the end of World War II, citing NATO allies’ failure to join the Iran war.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Trump said a U.S. withdrawal from NATO was “beyond reconsideration.”
“I was never swayed by NATO,” he said. “I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”
President Trump at the NATO summit in Brussels in 2018. Sean Gallup / Getty Images file
Trump has been frustrated by a perceived lack of support from the 31 other NATO member countries, who were not consulted about the Iran war before the U.S. and Israel began strikes on Feb. 28. Spain, for example, has refused to let the U.S. use its airspace or jointly operate military bases for the conflict, while the German defense minister has said it is “not our war.”
“I just think it should be automatic,” Trump said. “We’ve been there automatically, including Ukraine. 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.”
