US Republican lawmaker introduces bill for NATO withdrawal

ISTANBUL

Rep. Thomas Massie introduced a bill urging the US to withdraw from NATO, claiming the alliance places financial and diplomatic burdens on the country.

NATO is a Cold War relic. We should withdraw from NATO and use that money to defend our own country, not socialist countries,” Massie said Tuesday in a statement on US social media company X.

Massie added that NATO, created to counter the now-defunct Soviet Union, has cost US taxpayers trillions of dollars and risks entangling the country in foreign wars. “America should not be the world’s security blanket—especially when wealthy countries refuse to pay for their own defense,” he wrote.

The bill said European NATO members have adequate economic and military capabilities to provide their own defense.

“Membership of the United States in NATO is inconsistent with the national security interests of the United States,” it said.

It added that the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union “fundamentally altered the security environment in Europe and rendered NATO’s founding collective defense mission irrelevant.”

It also noted that the alliance began a large-scale eastward expansion in 1999, despite losing its relevance and contrary claims.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump told Politico that Europe is under serious strain and its leaders have not done enough to address major challenges.

“I think they’re weak,” he said. “I also think that they want to be so politically correct. I think they don’t know what to do. Europe doesn’t know what to do.”

The bill came amid Trump’s mixed signals about NATO and Europe. Trump previously urged NATO countries to increase defense spending from 2% to 5% of GDP and warned that those failing to meet the target could be expelled from the alliance.