On April 1, 2026, Trump told The Telegraph he is “strongly considering” pulling the United States out of NATO, calling the 77-year-old alliance a “paper tiger.” Asked whether withdrawal was under reconsideration, Trump responded: “Oh yes, I would say beyond reconsideration.”
The threat came after European NATO allies refused to join the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran — a war Trump started without congressional authorization. On March 20, he had called NATO allies “COWARDS” for not helping reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Now he is threatening to dismantle the alliance entirely.
Trump told The Telegraph: “I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed the sentiment, suggesting a post-war reassessment of the alliance.
British Prime Minister Starmer responded that NATO is “the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen.” A legal barrier exists: Section 1250A of the 2024 NDAA requires a two-thirds Senate vote or act of Congress for withdrawal. The NATO treaty itself requires a one-year waiting period after notice.
On April 9, European officials described Trump's closed-door meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte as going “like shit” — nothing more than “a tirade of insults” where Trump chastised allies and “threatened to do almost anything.” Rutte diplomatically called the meeting “frank” and “constructive.”
The implications are staggering. NATO has been the cornerstone of Western security since 1949. Withdrawing would effectively cede Eastern Europe to Russian influence, undermine every allied defense commitment, and end the post-WWII security architecture that has prevented great-power conflict for nearly 80 years — all because European allies refused to join a war he started.