Trump questions if NATO would help the US - and 'forgets key moments from history'

Donald Trump’s comments on NATO are being called out for seemingly forgetting key moments in American history.

While speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday (7 March), Trump said that other countries would not come to the defence of the United States if the country was attacked, however the alliance did just that after Sept. 11 which marked the first and only time in NATO’s history that the Article 5 defense guarantee has been invoked.

The US President said: “You know the biggest problem I have with NATO? I really, I mean, I know the guys very well. They’re friends of mine. But if the United States was in trouble, and we called them, we said, ‘We got a problem, France. We got a problem, couple of others I won’t mention.’ Do you think they’re going to come and protect us? They’re supposed to. I’m not so sure.”

When Article 5 was invoked following the 9/11 attacks, it led to NATO’s largest operation in Afghanistan. French military took part in the operation.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke out amid Trump’s recent NATO criticisms. “We are loyal and faithful allies,” he said. “I think we’re entitled to expect the same.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent NATO into upheaval back in February when he said in a speech that the US would not be part of any peacekeeping force in Ukraine, which is not a member of NATO.

Trump has long been critical of NATO, the alliance formed post-World War II to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. He has accused the alliance of not paying its fair share toward the cost of defense. His most recent comments come at a time of increased concern in the Western world about Trump’s bromance with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long seen NATO as a threat. Trump has also recently applied pressure to make Ukraine agree to a peace deal with a country that invaded it in 2022.

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