President Trump suggested in a new interview that defending NATO ally Montenegro could end up causing World War III.
“I understand what you’re saying, I’ve asked the same question,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson that aired Tuesday night, after being asked why the U.S. should send troops to defend a small country. “Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people. They’re very strong people. They are very aggressive people, they may get aggressive, and congratulations, you’re in World War III. But that’s the way it was set up.”
Trump’s comments came days after he rattled NATO allies during a visit to Brussels by threatening to pull out of the military alliance if other countries did not increase their defense spending. The interview was filmed after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In a tweet early Wednesday, Trump said his summit with Putin may be a greater success than the NATO meeting.
While the NATO meeting in Brussels was an acknowledged triumph, with billions of dollars more being put up by member countries at a faster pace, the meeting with Russia may prove to be, in the long run, an even greater success. Many positive things will come out of that meeting..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2018
“While the NATO meeting in Brussels was an acknowledged triumph, with billions of dollars more being put up by member countries at a faster pace, the meeting with Russia may prove to be, in the long run, an even greater success,” he wrote.
Montenegro has been part of the alliance, created in 1949 to protect against Soviet invasion, since June 2017. The treaty commits member states to defending each other if they’re attacked, but that commitment has only been invoked once, by the United States after 9/11.
