NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is set to meet with Donald Trump after the president threatened to leave the Western military alliance.
The NATO chief is coming to Washington, D.C., and holding court with Trump next week. The development comes as Trump has escalated criticism of NATO in recent weeks due to what he believes has been the alliance’s failure to effectively target Iran alongside the United States and secure the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s latest statements on NATO on Wednesday are his strongest yet, marking a new low for the alliance. When pressed on whether he would reconsider the U.S. membership of NATO, the president said, “Oh yes, I would say [it’s] beyond reconsideration.”
“I always knew they were a paper tiger,” he told the Telegraph.
Trump made similar remarks in an interview with Reuters, telling the outlet he is “absolutely” considering withdrawing the U.S. from NATO.
The president’s position has sparked some criticism from Congress, including from Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA).
“For more than seventy years, NATO has been the cornerstone of American national security — deterring war in Europe, projecting strength around the world, and ensuring that the United States never stands alone in moments of crisis,” Warner said Wednesday. “It is not a ‘paper tiger’ — it is the most successful military alliance in modern history, and Donald Trump’s threat to pull the United States out of NATO is reckless, dangerous, and plays directly into the hands of our adversaries.”
Trump did not refer to Washington’s relationship with NATO during a rare prime-time address to the nation on Wednesday evening.
However, he urged allies to take leadership in securing the Strait of Hormuz in the Iran war. The U.S. will be “helpful,” but other countries must take primary responsibility for ensuring the global oil supply begins to flow through the channel once again, he said.
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Trump stressed that Washington has little to lose if the strategic waterway remains blocked, as the U.S. is a major oil producer. He said other countries could either buy oil from the U.S. to relieve energy woes or send their militaries to clear up the channel.
“To those countries that can’t get fuel, many of which refuse to get involved in the decapitation of Iran — we had to do it ourselves — I have a suggestion. No. 1, buy oil from the United States of America. We have plenty. We have so much. And No. 2, build up some delayed courage,” he said. “Go to the strait and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves. Iran has been essentially decimated. The hard part is done. So it should be easy.”
