President Trump told Reuters that he’s “absolutely” considering withdrawing the United States from the NATO military alliance — and that “I’ll be discussing my disgust with NATO” during a primetime Oval Office address Wednesday about the Iran war.
“Oh, absolutely without question. Wouldn’t you do that if you were me?” Trump told Reuters reporter Steve Holland in an interview, when asked if he was weighing leaving the transatlantic alliance.
Trump made the remark after telling The Telegraph that NATO’s future is “beyond reconsideration” after European leaders barred US use of military bases for the monthlong Iran conflict and balked at US requests for naval support to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“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,” he said.
The Senate ratified the treaty establishing NATO in 1949 at the start of the Cold War, and the alliance has ensured as a counter to Moscow’s post-Soviet reassertion of influence in Eastern Europe. Unilateral presidential withdrawal from treaties has become the norm, and Trump has axed others.
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