October 2, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump repeated his complaint about NATO after a closed-door meeting with the alliance's Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday.
Ahead of the private meeting, Trump had suggested the U.S. may consider leaving the trans-Atlantic alliance after NATO member countries ignored his call to help as Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping waterway, and sent gas prices soaring.
Afterward, he issued an all-caps comment on social media suggesting he remained aggrieved. “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN,” Trump said in his post. The White House did not immediately offer any further updates.
The Republican president has had a warm relationship with Rutte in the past, and the meeting came after the U.S. and Iran late Tuesday agreed to a two-week ceasefire that includes the reopening of the strait. The ceasefire was struck after Trump said he would strike Iran's power plants and bridges.
Earlier Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged that Trump had discussed leaving NATO. “I think it’s something the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with Secretary-General Rutte,” Leavitt said.
Congress in 2023 passed a law that prevents any U.S. president from pulling out of NATO without its approval. Trump has been a longtime critic of NATO, which was founded in 1949 to counter the Cold War threat posed to European security by the Soviet Union.
The crux of the commitment its 32 member countries make is a mutual defense agreement in which an attack on one is considered an attack on them all. The only time it has been activated was in 2001, to support the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Rubio met separately with Rutte on Wednesday morning at the State Department ahead of the White House talks. In a statement, the State Department said Rubio and Rutte had discussed the war with Iran, along with U.S. efforts to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and “increasing coordination and burden shifting with NATO allies.”
Ahead of Trump's meeting, Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, issued a statement Tuesday night in support of the alliance, noting, “Following the September 11th attacks, NATO allies sent their young servicemembers to fight and die alongside America’s own in Afghanistan and Iraq.” McConnell, who sits on a committee overseeing defense spending, urged Trump to be “clear and consistent” and said it’s not in America’s interest to “spend more time nursing grudges with allies who share our interests than deterring adversaries who threaten us.”
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