Overview
- Trump said in interviews with the Telegraph and Reuters that he is seriously weighing pulling the United States out of NATO and called the alliance a “paper tiger.”
- His comments followed allied refusal to join U.S. military action against Iran as the Strait of Hormuz has been blocked for more than a month by the conflict.
- Section 1250A of the National Defense Authorization Act, added in December 2023, bars a president from suspending or quitting the North Atlantic Treaty without a two‑thirds Senate vote or a specific act of Congress.
- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron, an EU spokesperson and NATO sources defended the alliance’s value and urged calm after the remarks.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who co‑sponsored the 2023 curb with Sen. Tim Kaine, called for a “reexamination” of NATO rather than an exit, and reporting points to likely Senate and defense‑industry resistance that would make departure hard to carry out.