Washington, DC: United States President Donald Trump sharply criticised NATO on Monday, voicing profound disappointment over the alliance’s failure to stand by the US during its ongoing war with Iran.
Trump underscored America’s enormous financial burden in protecting Europe from Russian aggression, lamenting the lack of reciprocity, as reported by The Economic Times.
He stated: “They’re going to be coming up. But I’m very disappointed in NATO. They weren’t there for us. We pay trillions of dollars for NATO, and they weren’t there for us. Now they want to come up, but there’s no real threat anymore. But NATO was not there for us. We spent trillions of dollars on NATO to help it guard against Russia.”
This latest outburst builds on Trump’s longstanding skepticism toward the transatlantic alliance, which dates back even before his first presidential term, as reported by Al Jazeera. His frustration has manifested in repeated demands for European allies to ramp up their own defence expenditures and in provocative suggestions, such as his earlier threat to annex Greenland.
Trump has gone as far as branding NATO’s shortfall in support as a lasting “stain on the alliance that will never disappear” and dismissing it outright as a “paper tiger.”
European leaders are feeling the heat. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz described the US-Iran war as “a trans-Atlantic stress test,” underscoring how the dispute is straining longstanding partnerships, Al Jazeera reported.
Other NATO members, facing Trump’s calls for higher contributions, have pledged incremental defense hikes but stopped short of direct involvement in the Iran conflict, wary of escalation.
Yet, Trump lacks the power for a unilateral US exit from NATO, which requires a two-thirds Senate supermajority or congressional action—an unlikely outcome given robust bipartisan support in Washington, according to Al Jazeera.
Flexibility exists elsewhere in the treaty framework. Article 5 obligates collective defence but does not trigger automatic US military action. The president could also withdraw roughly 84,000 US troops from Europe.
The Wall Street Journal indicates Trump is contemplating shifting bases away from “unhelpful” nations during the Iran war.
