President Donald Trump will raise a potential U.S. withdrawal
from NATO
with Alliance Secretary-General Mark Rutte during a White House meeting on
April 8, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, as reported
by CNN.
Leavitt said Trump is scheduled to meet Rutte in the Oval Office and “looks forward to a very frank and candid conversation” with the secretary. When asked whether the United States will leave NATO, Leavitt replied, “it’s something the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with Secretary General Rutte.”
Earlier the same day, Trump said that NATO allies “were
tested and failed” when they refused to join the U.S.–Israeli operation against
Iran. In his criticism, the U.S. leader is seemingly undeterred by the fact
that NATO is a defensive alliance.