page_title: Foreign policy of the Donald Trump administration
section_title: NATO
hierarchical_section_title: Foreign policy of the Donald Trump administration / International organizations / NATO
caption_attribution_description: President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Jens Stolenberg participate in a joint press conference, Wednesday, April 12, 2017, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
context_page_description: The stated aims of the foreign policy of the Donald Trump administration include a focus on security, by fighting terrorists abroad and strengthening border defenses and immigration controls; an expansion of the U.S. military; an "America First" approach to trade; and diplomacy whereby "old enemies become friends". During his presidential inauguration speech, Trump said that during his presidency the U.S. would "not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example. We will shine for everyone to follow." He also stated that his administration would "seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world," and that he believed in the "right of all nations to put their own interests first."
  Trump supported a robust national defense during the 2016 election campaign and in his first budget proposal as president in March 2017, proposed a $54 billion increase in defense spending, to a total of $639 billion for fiscal year 2018. He said the increase would be needed to fight terrorism, improve troop readiness, and build new ships and planes, and would be paid for by deep cuts to other agencies, including a 28% cut from the US State Department budget.
context_section_description: During the campaign, Trump called for a "rethink" of American involvement in NATO, stating that the United States pays too much to ensure the security of allies, stating that "NATO is costing us a fortune, and yes, we're protecting Europe with NATO, but we're spending a lot of money". Later in the same interview, he stated that the U.S. should not "decrease its role" in NATO but rather should decrease U.S. spending in regards to the organization.
  In a July 2016 interview, Trump "explicitly raised new questions about his commitment to automatically defend NATO allies," questioning whether he, as president, would automatically extend security guarantees to NATO members. Asked about a prospective Russia attack on NATO's Baltic members, Trump stated that he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing whether those nations "have fulfilled their obligations to us." This would represent a sharp break with U.S. foreign traditions.
  As president, Trump said in a February 2017 speech that the United States strongly supports NATO, but continued to insist that NATO members aren't paying their fair share as part of the alliance. In May 2017 he visited the new NATO headquarters in Brussels to help dedicate a memorial there for the September 11, 2001 attacks. In his prepared remarks he prompted NATO to do more to fight terrorism and to add limiting immigration to its tasks. In the speech he did not explicitly reaffirm US commitment to Article V, which obligates all NATO members to respond to an attack against any one member. White House spokesperson Sean Spicer later reaffirmed America's commitment to joint defense. With regard to the alliance's enacted guideline that members should spend a minimum of 2 percent of their national GDP for defense by 2024, Trump said that "Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying for their defense". He also claimed that "many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years." Media fact-checkers observed that, while most members of the alliance indeed had yet to reach the 2 percent target for their national defense spending in 2017, technically they are not in arrears and they "do not owe anything" to the United States or to NATO.
  In early April 2019, during a trip to the U.S. to hail NATO's 70th anniversary, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg affirmed that the NATO alliance remained "strong" and downplayed the severity of the disputes and uncertainties that emerged during the Trump administration. On April 2, Stoltenberg and Trump had a positive meeting at the White House, where Trump praised NATO for increased defense spending. Trump said he and Stoltenberg are "both committed to ensuring that NATO can address the full range of threats facing the alliance today." During a speech to Congress on April 3, Stoltenberg acknowledged that "there are differences," noting disputes over trade, energy, climate change policy, the Iran nuclear agreement and burden sharing among NATO allies – all issues raised by Trump. Noting that NATO members are on track to increase defense spending by up to $100 billion, Stoltenberg said that "this has been the clear message from President Trump and this message is having a real impact."
caption: President Trump and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, April 2017
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