Trump wonders if NATO would defend us, but 1,000 allies were killed in the war against terrorism

President Donald Trump wondered on Thursday if the NATO allies would come to the help of the United States in the event of an attack.

“Do you think they’re going to come and protect us?” They are supposed to do so. I’m not sure, “said Trump, answering journalists’ questions after signing decrees in the oval office.

Except that it is not a hypothetical: in fact, the clause of article 5 of NATO was only invoked once in the 76 years of the history of the Alliance, and it was on September 12, 2001 – the day after that Al -Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on American soil.

After 20 years of war, most of the people killed in the coalition were American, but much more than 1,000 of them were international partners.

Article 5 is a basic principle of the Alliance and dictates that an armed attack on any member must be considered an attack on all.

Trump’s comments came after suggesting again that the United States does not help NATO allies if they did not pay enough for defense.

“Are you going to do this policy, American policy, that the United States would not defend the NATO countries that do not pay?” A journalist asked him directly.

“Well, I think it’s common sense, right?” Trump replied. “If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them. No, I’m not going to defend them. I have entered a lot of warmth when I said that. You said:” Oh, he violates NATO. “”

He continued: “You know, the biggest problem I have with NATO, I really know, I mean, I know the guys very well. They are friends to me. But if the United States was in trouble and we called them, we said, we had a problem, France. We have a problem, I’m not sure.”

Rhetoric is not new to Trump. In the 2024 campaign, he made the headlines for declaring that he “encouraged” Russia “to do what they want” to NATO allies who do not spend enough defense funds.