President Donald Trump says he is reconsidering America’s membership of NATO after not a single member heeded his call for aid in securing the Middle East from Iranian threats, he told a British newspaper.
It was “actually hard to believe” the hard refusals of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO’s) European members, that the instinct to rally to the flag of a fellow member when called wasn’t reflexive, U.S. President Donald Trump has told The Daily Telegraph.
In remarks that follow and acknowledged U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Monday statement that America’s membership of the alliance would have to be “re-examined”, President Trump confirmed he was reconsidering America’s engagement and added: “I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”
The President cited the United States rushing to Europe’s aid when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 — which is not a NATO member, and Washington was in no way treaty-bound to do so — as a counterpart for America now calling on its European NATO allies to put their shoulder to the wheel. He told the broadsheet:
…[Europe] not being there, it was actually hard to believe.
“And I didn’t do a big sale. I just said, ‘Hey’, you know, I didn’t insist too much. I just think it should be automatic.
We’ve been there automatically, including Ukraine. Ukraine wasn’t our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. They weren’t there for us.
It is plainly evident from Trump’s several remarks on this matter in recent weeks, that of all the NATO allies the President feels most betrayed by the failure of the United Kingdom to get involved. As previously stated, for decades one of the primary inputs of the United Kingdom into the Western alliance is the specialist capabilities of the Royal Navy, and in this conflict there is a strong need for minesweeping capacity, something that until recently the UK specialised in.
Yet treasury penny-pinching has seen this mission ‘capability gapped’, meaning the last generation of mine warfare vessels has been mostly retired before the new equipment has entered service. Such gaps have become a fact of life for the UK military, which struggles to make its voice heard in government when policies like ever-greater welfare handouts are a clearer vote winner, but this is perhaps the first time capability gapping has coincided with a sudden, urgent need so badly.
The UK has said it will lead an international coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz, but like the other nations refuses to involve itself while the war in Iran is still active.
On Monday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth sardonically said of the UK’s failure to report in the Middle East: “there are countries around the world who ought to be prepared to step up on this critical waterway as well, not just the United States Navy. Last time I checked there was supposed to be a Big Bad Royal Navy that could be prepared to do things like that as well.”
President Trump again spoke of this today, saying of Britain “You don’t even have a navy”, and stating even attempting to counsel UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to consider serving his national interest was pointless because he had a one-track mind that was very much not focussed on defence of the realm, or its allies. “All Starmer wants is costly windmills that are driving your energy prices through the roof”, President Trump said.
As reported, Marco Rubio said on Monday:
The president and our country will have to reexamine all of this after this operation is over. But one of the reasons why NATO is beneficial to the United States is that it gives us basing rights for contingencies. It allows us to station troops, aircraft, and weapons in parts of the world that we wouldn’t normally have bases. And that includes in much of Europe…
…And to see that in a time of need, the United States has identified a grave risk to our national security and our national interests. And we needed to conduct this operation. And we have countries like Spain, a NATO member that we are pledged to defend, denying us the use of their airspace and bragging about it, denying us the use of our of their bases. And there are other countries that have done that as well. And so you ask yourself, well, what is in it for the United States?
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