The U.S. ambassador to NATO said the Donald Trump administration is reassessing core pillars of American foreign policy, including the country’s role in the alliance. “It is now entirely clear that President Trump is evaluating and reevaluating everything—whether it is our participation in NATO, support for Europe’s efforts in Ukraine, or any other actions undertaken by the United States,” Matt Whitaker said in an interview with Newsmax.
According to Whitaker, no final decision has yet been made on the future of U.S. membership in NATO. “We will act in line with his intention when he makes that decision,” he said. “At this point, all options remain on the table.”
Trump himself, in an interview with The Telegraph published on Wednesday, again raised the possibility of withdrawing from the alliance, saying the matter “goes beyond a review.” “NATO has never convinced me. I always knew it was a paper tiger, and Putin, by the way, understands that too,” he said.
The United States has been among NATO’s 12 founding members since the organization was established in 1949. Today, the alliance comprises 32 countries, most of them in Europe.
Trump has repeatedly accused European allies of failing to do enough to support American military action against Iran. On Tuesday, March 31, he criticized Britain and France for refusing to assist the United States in restoring shipping through the Strait of Hormuz—a vital oil transit route that has been effectively shut by the war.
The president has previously withdrawn the United States from a number of international agreements. In January, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced plans to leave a total of 66 international organizations, including the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the Global Counterterrorism Forum, and the International Energy Forum.
“The Trump administration has concluded that these institutions duplicate one another’s functions, are inefficiently managed, excessive, wasteful, poorly run, captured by interests advancing an agenda at odds with our own, or pose a threat to our country’s sovereignty, freedoms, and broader prosperity,” Rubio said in a press release.
“President Trump has made one thing unmistakably clear: it is no longer acceptable to keep pouring the blood, sweat, and resources of the American people into these bodies while receiving next to nothing in return,” he added. “The era in which billions of taxpayer dollars were funneled into overseas interests at the expense of our own citizens is over.”
Later that same month, the United States formally withdrew from the World Health Organization after Trump signed the relevant executive order a year earlier. The president had criticized what he described as the WHO’s “overly burdensome” membership dues.