US President Donald Trump, who has long questioned the viability of NATO, cast doubt on his willingness to support the Western military alliance, saying he would not come to members aid if they didn’t pay enough for their own defense.
"It's common sense, right," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on March 6.
"If they don't pay, I'm not going to defend them. No, I'm not going to defend them."
Trump said he shared this view with NATO allies during his first presidential term, 2017-21, prompting most to increase their military spending – but not by enough, he added.
SEE ALSO: Baltic Countries Feel Aftershocks From US Suspension of Ukraine Military Aid"They should be paying more," he said.
During his first term, Trump insisted that NATO members raise their military spending to 2 percent of GDP, a level pledged in 2014 to be met over the next decade.
At least 24 have met that requirement, although Trump has since suggested the threshold may have to rise to 5 percent of GDP, a level many member nations said would not be economically viable.
Only Poland comes close to 5 percent, although Estonia and Lithuania have signaled they will raise spending to this level as well
Despite the latest comments, Trump in late February reaffirmed his commitment to NATO’s mutual defense clause, Article 5, in remarks alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
That stance was reiterated multiple times -- both publicly and privately -- by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels in February.
Roughly 100,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed in Europe, mainly in Germany, Italy, and Britain.
NATO was established by the United States and 11 other countries to counter Soviet aggression following World War II. It has grown to 32 members and now includes many nations formerly part of the Soviet Union or under its sphere of influence.
Trump claimed in his remarks that other countries would not come to the US’s defense, although the only time Article 5 has been invoked is when it was determined the United States was attacked on September 11, 2001.
“You know the biggest problem I have with NATO? I really, I mean, I know the guys very well. They’re friends of mine. But if the United States was in trouble, and we called them, we said, ‘We got a problem, France. We got a problem, couple of others I won’t mention.' Do you think they’re going to come and protect us? They’re supposed to. I’m not so sure.”
SEE ALSO: Will The US Leave NATO? Officials Push Back Against Rising DoubtsFrench President Emmanuel Macron responded to Trump’s remarks, saying, "We are loyal and faithful allies.”
“I think we’re entitled to expect the same,” said Macron, who cited historical incidents of Franco-American military cooperation stretching back to the US Revolutionary War.
France and the United States “have always been there for each other,” he said.
Macron on March 5 said he was open to discussing the extension of France's nuclear deterrence to Paris's allies on the Continent in the face of Russian aggression and worries about the U.S. view on helping to defend Europe.
Trump, meanwhile, also suggested using the U.S. commitment to NATO as leverage in his trade war in his effort to target what he has labeled as unfair trade policies by European nations.