U.S. President Donald Trump cast doubt Thursday on NATO’s commitment to defend the U.S. if attacked, despite the alliance’s historic invocation of its defense guarantee after the 9/11 attacks.
Trump also hinted that the U.S. could walk away from its NATO obligations if member states fail to meet defense spending targets, a day after his NATO ambassador nominee assured senators of the administration’s “ironclad” commitment to the alliance.
These latest comments echo Trump’s longstanding criticism of NATO, which was founded to counter Soviet aggression during the Cold War.
However, they come at a time of growing concern in the West over Trump’s close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long viewed NATO as a threat, and as the U.S. president presses Ukraine to negotiate a peace deal with Russia, the country that invaded it three years ago.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent the alliance into upheaval last month when he said in a speech that the U.S. would not participate in any peacekeeping force in Ukraine, which is not a NATO member, and would not defend any country that participated in it if attacked by Russia.
Trump said Thursday in the Oval Office that other countries would not come to the defense of the U.S. – though they have done exactly that, in the only instance that the Article 5 defense guarantee was invoked.
“You know the biggest problem I have with NATO? I really, I mean, I know the guys very well. They’re friends of mine. But if the United States was in trouble, and we called them, we said, ‘We got a problem, France. We got a problem, a couple of others I won’t mention.’ Do you think they’re going to come and protect us? They’re supposed to. I’m not so sure.”
Article 5 was invoked after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, leading to NATO’s largest operation in Afghanistan. France’s military participated in the operation.
“We are loyal and faithful allies,” French President Emmanuel Macron responded Thursday, expressing “respect and friendship” toward U.S. leaders.
“I think we’re entitled to expect the same,” he said.
Macron invoked “centuries-old history,” mentioning the Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman who was a major general in the American Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, and Gen. John Pershing, commander of the American army in France during World War I.
Macron added that a few days ago, he met American World War II veterans who landed on Omaha Beach as part of the D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France.
France and the U.S. “have always been there for each other,” Macron said.
Trump, when asked Thursday if he was making it U.S. policy that the U.S. would not defend NATO countries that don’t meet military spending targets, said: “Well, I think it’s common sense, right? If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them. No, I’m not going to defend them.”
Trump has suggested since his 2016 presidential campaign that the U.S. under his leadership might not comply with the alliance’s mutual defense guarantees and would only defend countries that meet targets to commit 2% of their gross domestic products to military spending.
The U.S. is the most powerful nation in the seven-decade alliance, has the largest economy among members, and spends more on defense than any other member.
The U.S. was one of 12 nations that formed NATO following World War II to counter the threat posed by the Soviet Union to Western Europe during the Cold War.
Its membership has since grown to 32 countries, and its bedrock mutual defense guarantee, known as Article 5, states that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.
Trump on Thursday also seemed to suggest the U.S. commitment to NATO might be leveraged in his trade war as he seeks to target what he says are unfair trade policies with other nations, including the European Union.
“I view NATO as potentially good, but you’ve got to get, you’ve got to get some good thinking in NATO. It’s very unfair, what’s been happening,” Trump said. “Until I came along, we were paying close to 100% of NATO. So think of it, we’re paying 100% of their military, and they’re screwing us on trade.”
On Wednesday, Trump’s choice for NATO ambassador, Matt Whitaker, said at his confirmation hearing that in regard to the U.S. commitment to the NATO alliance and specifically Article 5, “it will be ironclad.”
Last year, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said a record 23 of NATO’s 32 member nations had met the military alliance’s defense spending target.
Trump has taken credit for countries meeting those targets because of his threats, and Stoltenberg himself has said Trump was responsible for getting other nations to increase their spending.
