Senate Democrat vows to block Trump’s NATO withdrawal push

A senior US senator has thrown up a legislative roadblock against President Donald Trump’s renewed threats to pull Washington out of NATO. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer declared Wednesday that the chamber will never endorse leaving the transatlantic alliance simply because Trump is frustrated with European allies. “The Senate will not vote to leave NATO and abandon our allies just because Trump is upset they wouldn’t go along with his reckless war of choice,” Schumer wrote on X.

Rubio’s 2023 bill now gains new relevance

Schumer expressed gratitude to Secretary of State Marco Rubio for having sponsored a 2023 bill that requires a two-thirds Senate supermajority to approve any NATO withdrawal. Rubio had written at the time: “No US President should be able to withdraw from NATO without Senate approval.” Speaking on television this week, Rubio acknowledged that he once viewed NATO as offering “great value” by allowing the US to “project power” globally. However, he now describes the alliance as a “one-way street,” citing European hesitation to back US military actions against Iran.

Trump calls NATO allies ‘cowards’ and ‘paper tiger’

President Trump has grown increasingly vocal in his criticism of NATO members, particularly after several European leaders refused to send naval vessels to protect oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. In an interview with The Telegraph, Trump said: “I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too.” He has also reportedly called alliance members “cowards.” For Türkiye, a long-standing NATO member with critical control over the Bosporus and a key role in regional security, any US withdrawal would fundamentally reshape the alliance’s southern flank and Ankara’s own defense calculations.