President Trump has been an on again, off again critic of NATO. He has repeatedly threatened to remove the U.S. from the treaty organization and military alliance and then followed that up with statements saying that the country stands by its allies. NATO, which stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy since the end of World War II, when it was formed with Western European allies to balance the threat of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact countries.
The president’s criticisms of NATO, that other countries do not contribute their share, are not new. They have been made by plenty of others before. And other presidents have negotiated with NATO countries to pressure them into increasing their defense budgets. But never has a president threatened to leave the alliance altogether.
The number of foreign policy experts who think that leaving NATO is a good idea right now is near zero, including most members of Congress from both parties, as represented in the House and Senate Foreign Relations Committees. Congress may not have much room to comment on the issue, though. The office of the president is given broad power over foreign policy, especially power to make treaties – and presumably break them as well.
Russia is currently more aggressive than at any point since the end of the Cold War. It may not matter though, as the president is generally considered to have a lot of control over foreign policy. If the president wants to remove the country from an international treaty, he may be able to do that unilaterally.
It could be argued that the president’s statements have been made to give him a better bargaining position among the group, and that he really has no intention of leaving. But it could also be argued that even the appearance of cracks in the cement of Western alliances plays into what Russia and President Putin want: a weak NATO.
