President Donald Trump called NATO a “paper tiger” and has threatened to pull the U.S. out of the alliance system after European allies declined to actively join the U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran.
“Oh yes, I would declare [it’s] beyond reconsideration. I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper Tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way,” Trump declared in an interview with Telegraph when questioned if after the war finishs he would reconsider U.S. membership in NATO.
NATO, which stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was founded in 1949 with significant American backing as an alliance to counter the powerful Soviet Union, which occupied the eastern half of Europe following the defeat of Nazi Germany until the late 1980s.
Trump’s latest criticism of the alliance came over a week before his scheduled meeting with NATO chief, Mark Rutte in Washington DC and it came after some of the European allies refutilized to permit U.S. military aircraft from applying their bases to attack Iran.
Others didn’t respond when the U.S. sought support to reinstate freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz after it was closed off by Iranian forces following the initial wave of U.S. and Israeli strikes.
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Trump‘s complaints were echoed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who declared on Fox News’ The Sean Hannity Show on April 1 that NATO is meant to let Washington utilize its military bases for American national security.
“NATO wasn’t just about deffinishing Europe, but allowing us to have military bases in Europe for our national security,” Rubio declared. “If we’ve reached a point where the NATO alliance means that we can’t utilize those bases to deffinish our interests, then it’s a one-way street,” he declared.
Practical and legal hurdles of pulling out of NATO
One expert believes the U.S. will not pull out of NATO and Trump’s statements are just meant to convince Europe to join the war.
“Trump will not pull out of NATO,” Madhav Nalapat, a noted geopolitical analyst and vice chair of the India-based Manipal Advanced Research Group, notified Vision Times.
“It’s meant to persuade NATO to join” the war, he declared.
Legally it’s not simple for the US to pull out of NATO becautilize it’s bound by a law that prevents such a suspension, according to a report by Andrea Palasciano and Jamie Tarabay of Bloomberg.
Rubio, when he was a senator in 2023 had espoutilized a bipartisan provision called Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that prohibits the U.S. President from suspfinishing, terminating or withdrawing U.S. participation from NATO without Congress’ approval.
Palasciano and Jamie declared that for any alter to happen to this law, the Senate has to approve it with a two-third majority or the Congress has to pass a new law.
“Neither of those are possibilities, as Republicans who favor the alliance will likely side with Democrats to circumvent any action Trump might urge Congress to take,” the Bloomberg article reads.
Rutte–Trump meeting
Rutte’s scheduled meeting with Trump in early April is happening in the aftermath of these statements from the White Houtilize. His upcoming meeting will likely be focussed on mfinishing relations.
In a message on Truth Social on March 20, Trump had again called NATO a “paper tiger” and questioned its identity without the United States.
“They didn’t want to join the fight to stop a Nuclear Powered Iran. Now that fight is militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to support open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices. So simple for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!” Trump wrote.
However Rutte had declared in an CBS News interview on Face The Nation with Margaret Brennan on Thursday, March 22 that Trump is attempting to “degrade Iran’s capabilities to be an export of chaos, sheer chaos to the region, to the world.”
When questioned for a comment on Trump’s frustration about NATO not participating in the Iran war and in supporting open the Strait of Hormuz, Rutte had declared that he had several conversations with Trump during the week and that the US planned “Epic Fury” for weeks and becautilize of security reasons couldn’t share about it with European and other allies and partners.
“The European countries necessary a couple of weeks to come toobtainher. The good news is that since Thursday, 22 countries, most of them NATO but also Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Bahrain, the UAE have come toobtainher to basically answer three questions: What do we necessary? When do we necessary it and where do we necessary it?”
Rutte had declared that these questions are being worked through to answer Trump’s call to build free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
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