‘Paper Tiger.’ Trump Says He’s Considering Pulling the U.S. Out of NATO.

In an interview published Wednesday by The Telegraph, President Donald Trump said he is considering pulling the United States out of NATO. He called the 77-year-old military alliance a “paper tiger” and, when asked whether he would reconsider American membership after the Iran conflict ends, responded: “Oh yes, I would say it’s beyond reconsideration.”¹

“I was never swayed by NATO,” Trump said. “I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”

The threat came after weeks of escalating anger at European allies who have refused to send warships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz — the vital oil and gas chokepoint that has been effectively closed by Iran since the war began. Trump has repeatedly demanded a multinational naval force. No European ally has contributed. Several have gone further, blocking American military access to bases and airspace for operations related to the conflict.²

On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron fired back. Speaking to reporters in Seoul during a state visit to South Korea, Macron said Trump was undermining NATO from within by sowing daily doubt about America’s commitment to collective defence.³

“Alliances like NATO are defined by what isn’t said — that is, the trust that underlies them,” Macron said. “If you create daily doubt about your commitment, you hollow it out.”

He added that there is “too much talk going off in all directions” and accused Trump of constantly contradicting himself on the Iran conflict. “You have to be serious. When you want to be serious, you don’t say the opposite every day of what you said the day before. And perhaps you shouldn’t talk every day.”

Macron rejected Trump’s call to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by force, calling it “unrealistic.” He said a military operation would expose any naval force to coastal threats from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, ballistic missiles, and other asymmetric risks. “This can only be done in concert with Iran. So, first and foremost, there must be a ceasefire and a resumption of negotiations.”⁴

Alejandro Martin / Unsplash — The Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply passes — has been virtually paralysed for weeks by the Iran war. Trump has demanded allies send warships. None have.

The Strait has been virtually paralysed for weeks. Oil prices have been projected to hit $200 per barrel if it remains closed. Roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply passes through the narrow waterway. Trump has told Reuters the United States will be “out of Iran pretty quickly” and could return for “spot hits” if needed — a signal that even the White House recognizes the conflict has no clear path to the objectives originally stated.

European resistance to the Iran war is now structural, not rhetorical. Bloomberg reported that NATO allies are hardening their stance against involvement, with some blocking U.S. military access to bases and transit routes. The refusal is driven by the war’s lack of a UN mandate, the civilian casualties in Iran, and domestic political opposition across Europe. European governments view the conflict as an American initiative that they were not consulted on and do not wish to legitimize.⁵

Trump’s response has been to escalate his rhetoric against the alliance itself. But the legal barriers to withdrawal are significant. In 2023, the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan measure prohibiting any president from withdrawing from NATO without Senate approval. Senator Marco Rubio — now serving in the Trump administration — posted at the time: “No U.S. President should be able to withdraw from NATO without Senate approval. Thankful my colleagues in Congress passed this bipartisan measure.”⁶

Trump also attacked Macron personally, mocking his marriage. In a separate interview, Trump claimed that Macron’s wife Brigitte “treats him extremely badly” — referring to a May 2025 video that appeared to show her shoving the president’s face during a trip to Vietnam. Macron later said the video was part of a disinformation campaign and that they were joking.⁷

Macron responded that the comments were “neither elegant nor up to standard.” Brigitte Macron’s team issued a more direct statement: “We are currently discussing the future of the world. Right now in Iran, this is having consequences for the lives of millions of people, people are dying on the battlefield and we have a president who is laughing, who is mocking others.”

The stakes of Trump’s rhetoric extend beyond the current war. NATO is built on Article 5 — the principle that an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. The credibility of that commitment depends not on the legal text but on the political certainty that the United States would respond. When the American president publicly questions whether the alliance is worth preserving, adversaries take note. As analysts have observed, even rhetorical doubt from Washington can embolden rivals by creating the impression that NATO’s political will is weakening.⁸

The American president called the most successful military alliance in history a “paper tiger.” He said withdrawal is “beyond reconsideration.” He told Putin — by name — that Russia already knows NATO is hollow. He mocked the French president’s marriage while people are dying in Iran. And his European allies responded not with compliance but with a collective refusal to participate in his war, to send warships to his strait, or to pretend that an alliance built on trust can survive a president who undermines it daily. NATO has survived Soviet aggression, the Cold War, the Balkans, and Afghanistan. Whether it can survive the doubt of its own guarantor is now the question that defines the Western alliance.