NATO Worries Trump Will Defang Alliance as US Threatens Exit

European allies are skeptical Donald Trump will actually pull the US out of NATO. But they still fear the president’s renewed threats to do so are eroding the military alliance at a precarious moment.

Trump on Wednesday capped mounting US critiques of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with a suggestion that he was strongly considering leaving the alliance. His comments came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio, typically seen as Washington’s NATO defender, chided the alliance for its “very disappointing” response to the war in Iran.

Mark Rutte, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), US President Donald Trump, and Keir Starmer, UK prime minister, front row, with other world leaders during the family photo at the NATO summit in The Hague in 2025.

Photographer: Simon Wohlfahrt/Bloomberg

While the rhetoric isn’t particularly novel — Trump and his cohort have ...