At a press conference later, Trump sidestepped a question about the threat, said he believed he had the authority to withdraw from NATO without congressional approval, and boasted that he had secured agreement for far larger spending commitments by allies. That claim was swiftly refuted by others including Macron, who said leaders did not alter their declaration in any way in response to Trump.[...]
Trump’s disruption of the NATO summit continues a pattern of tumult by the American president at major international gatherings. At the G7 last month, when the summit had reached a successful conclusion, he tweeted his fury from Air Force One and repudiated summit conclusions he had already agreed.
In Brussels, officials initially said Trump was more conciliatory, but he apparently became angry after reading news coverage that did not reflect his anger over allies’ reluctance to spend more on defense. [...]
Shaheen, the other co-chair of the NATO Observer Group, noted that Congress had responded to Trump’s threats towards the allies with a resolution adopted 97-2 supporting NATO and explicitly reaffirming the North Atlantic Treaty’s Article 5 mutual defense commitment.
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