Donald Trump renews NATO criticism after talks with Mark Rutte

US President Donald Trump repeated his complaint about NATO after a closeddoor meeting with the alliances SecretaryGeneral Mark Rutte on Wednesday for discussions that had been expected to be aimed at soothing Trumps anger with the military alliance over the Iran warAhead of the private meeting Trump had suggested the US may consider leaving the transAtlantic 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 soaringAfterward he issued an allcaps comment on social media suggesting he remained aggrievedNATO WASNT THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM AND THEY WONT BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN Trump said in his postThe White House did not immediately offer any further updatesThe Republican president has had a warm relationship with Rutte in the past and the meeting came after the US and Iran late Tuesday agreed to a twoweek ceasefire that includes the reopening of the straitThe nascent ceasefire was struck after Trump said he would strike Irans power plants and bridges threatening that a whole civilization will die tonightEarlier Wednesday White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged that Trump had discussed leaving NATOI think its something the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with SecretaryGeneral Rutte Leavitt saidThe Congress in 2023 passed a law that prevents any US president from pulling out of NATO without its approvalTrump has been a longtime critic of NATO and in his first term had suggested he had the authority on his own to leave the alliance which was founded in 1949 to counter the Cold War threat posed to European security by the Soviet UnionThe 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 September 11 attacks on New York and WashingtonDespite that Trump has complained during his war of choice with Iran that NATO has shown it will not be there for the USOn Wednesday he also seemed to be angry about NATOs stance on Greenland a semiautonomous territory of NATO member Denmark Trump had pressed forUS control over Greenland earlier this year before backing off after talks with RutteREMEMBER GREENLAND THAT BIG POORLY RUN PIECE OF ICE Trump posted WednesdayThere is a law barring a president from pulling out of NATOIts unclear if the Trump administration would challenge the law barring a president from pulling out of NATO When the law passed it was championed by Trumps current secretary of state Marco Rubio who at the time was a senator from FloridaRubio met separately with Rutte on Wednesday morning at the State Department ahead of the White House talksIn a statement the State Department said Rubio and Rutte had discussed the war with Iran along with US efforts to negotiate an end to the RussiaUkraine war and increasing coordination and burden shifting with NATO alliesAhead of Trumps meeting Senator 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 Americas own in Afghanistan and IraqMcConnell who sits on a committee overseeing defense spending urged Trump to be clear and consistent and said its not in Americas interest to spend more time nursing grudges with allies who share our interests than deterring adversaries who threaten usThe alliance was already rattled over the past year as Trump returned to power and reduced US military support for Ukraine in the war against Russia and threatened to seize Greenland from ally DenmarkBut Trumps badgering of NATO intensified after the Iran war began at the end of February with the president insisting that securing the Strait of Hormuz was not Americas job but the responsibility of countries that depend on the flow of oil through itGo to the strait and just take it Trump said last weekTrump was also angered as NATO allies Spain and France forbade or restricted use of their airspace or joint military facilities for the US in the Iran war They and other nations however agreed to help with an international coalition to open the Strait of Hormuz when the conflict endsBritish Prime Minister Keir Starmer who has been a particular source of Trumps frustration was set to travel Wednesday to the Gulf to support the ceasefireThe UK has been working on developing a postconflict security plan for the strait a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about onefifth of the worlds oil passesTrump has previously threatened to leave NATO and often said that he would abandon allies who dont spend enough on their military budgetsFormer NATO secretarygeneral Jens Stoltenberg in his recent memoir said he feared that Trump might walk away from the alliance in 2018 during his first term as presidentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever