Washington DC [US], April 13 : US President Donald Trump said that he was very disappointed with NATO, alleging that they did not help his country in its war with Iran.
Trump said that the US spent trillions of dollars on guarding Europe against Russia.
He said, "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."
Trump's disdain for the alliance stemmed even before his first term as the US President, as per Al Jazeera.
It is visible from his nudge for Europe to spend more in the defence sector, and his threat to annex Greenland. Trump had called NATO's lack of support a stain on the alliance "that will never disappear," and said they were "paper tiger". Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany put it even more bluntly, later: The conflict "has become a trans-Atlantic stress test," Al Jazeera reported.
However, as per Al Jazeera, Trump can't pull the US out of the alliance as per his wish. To formally do so, he needs a two-thirds majority in the US Senate or an act of Congress. But NATO still enjoys broad support among many legislators in both major American parties, so the scenario is unlikely.
But there are other things Trump can do. The US has no obligation to come to the aid of allies should they come under attack. The treaty's Article 5 states members' collective-defence obligation, but it does not automatically force a military response. The US can also move the about 84,000 American troops spread across Europe out of the continent.
As per the Wall Street Journal, Trump is mulling movement of US bases from countries he deems unhelpful during his war with Iran.
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