President Donald Trump and his top deputies have recently threatened to pull the United States out of NATO after several allied countries refused to back the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.
“Oh yes, I would say [it’s] beyond reconsideration. I was never swayed by NATO,” Trump said Tuesday when asked if he would reconsider the U.S.’s membership after the conflict ends. “I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded in 1949 to provide collective national security against the then-Soviet Union, and was primarily formed as a deterrent to potential military aggression in Europe following World War II. Currently, there are more than 30 member countries involved with NATO.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images, FILE – PHOTO: In this Jan. 23, 2026, file photo, President Donald Trump (R) speaks with NATO’s Secretary-General Mark Rutte during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
After NATO allies rebuffed his call to assist the U.S. in securing the critical Strait of Hormuz last month, Trump called the decision a “foolish mistake” and said the U.S. wouldn’t need their help after all.
Should the president pull the trigger to pull out of the alliance, he will need the permission of Congress.
In 2023, Congress approved a measure aimed at preventing any U.S. president from unilaterally withdrawing the United States from NATO without congressional approval.
The provision was included in the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual bill detailing defense policy, which was passed by both chambers and signed into law by President Joe Biden.
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Under the measure, the president would be prohibited from withdrawing from NATO without the approval of two-thirds of the Senate or separate legislation passed by Congress.
Senate Republican Leader John Thune, of South Dakota, said recently this month in an interview with the Washington Examiner that Congress would need to weigh in regarding withdrawing from NATO.
“Yeah, absolutely, I don’t think you can make that kind of a decision unilaterally,” Thune told the Washington Examiner in a sit-down interview.
“Congress is definitely — on something like that, there isn’t any question Congress is gonna want to be heard from,” he added.
However, Republicans Sen. Mike Lee and Thomas Massie have both separately introduced legislation to pull the U.S. out of NATO, with Massie calling the organization a “Cold War relic.”
Members of Trump’s administration, meanwhile, have said in recent days that once the war in Iran has concluded, there is “no doubt” that the U.S. will have to “re-examine” its relationship with NATO.
“I think there is no doubt unfortunately, after this conflict is concluded, we’re going to have to re-examine that relationship. We’re going to have to reexamine the value of NATO and that alliance for our country. Ultimately that’s a decision for the president to make and he’ll have to make it,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during an interview with Fox News Tuesday.
Rubio was a co-sponsor of the 2023 legislation when he was a senator, and at the time issued a statement asserting the upper chambers authority.
Alex Wong/Getty Images – PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order to limit mail-in voting in the Oval Office of the White House on March 31, 2026, in Washington, D.C.
“The Senate should maintain oversight on whether or not our nation withdraws from NATO. We must ensure we are protecting our national interests and protecting the security of our democratic allies,” Rubio said in 2023.
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On Wednesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., issued a joint statement with Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., defending the alliance in defiance of the president.
“NATO is the most successful military alliance in history,” McConnell and Coons said. “It has underpinned the security of the United States for more than 70 years. The only time NATO has gone to war has been in response to an attack on America. NATO troops fought and died in Afghanistan and Iraq alongside American forces. The United States must not take this sacrifice — nor our allies’ commitment to make it again — lightly.”
“Alliance disputes are as old as the alliance itself,” the joint statement added. “Americans are safer when NATO is strong and united. It is in our interest for all allies to tend this unity with care. United States joined NATO in 1949 when the Senate voted to ratify the NATO treaty, and the United States will remain in it. The Senate will continue to support the alliance for the peace and protection it provides America, Europe, and the World.”