False: NATO is stronger because of Donald Trump.

By: Devika Kandelwal
August 26 2020

Share Article:

Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO, and experts fear that he might try to withdraw the U.S. from the alliance. Mike Pompeo, the United States Secretary of State, in his speech on the second night of the Republic National Convention, said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is stronger because of Donald Trump. However, this is not true. On the contrary, President Trump has weakened NATO. His constant criticism of the alliance has generated widespread distrust of Mr. Trump among its European members and questions over the reliability of the United States. The Trump administration had fractured the United States’ relationship with NATO, which had been recently amplified when his administration suddenly decided to remove 9,500 U.S. troops from Germany by September 2020. Furthermore, the U.S withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019. In May 2020, it announced its intentions to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty. Moreover, the American president wants to withdraw from NATO, as several of Mr. Trump’s former senior aides have said. In 2019, the New York Times reported that senior administration officials told them that several times throughout 2018, Mr. Trump privately said he wanted to withdraw from NATO. Furthermore, in 2018, Trump attacked the European members of NATO, saying European governments were not spending enough on the shared costs of defense, leaving the United States to carry an outsize burden. He expressed frustration that European leaders would not, on the spot, pledge to spend more.