NATO Withdrawal Threat Intensifies: Trump 'Strongly Considering' Exit; CNN Finds Broad US Public Support for Alliance; Congress 2023 Law Complicates Path

The fallout from Trump's April 8 meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte continued to reverberate through April 11. Trump had floated the possibility of US withdrawal from NATO during and after the Rutte meeting, calling the alliance a 'paper tiger' and saying he was 'strongly considering' pulling the US out after European members refused to support Operation Epic Fury. Newsweek reported Trump was also weighing pulling US troops from 'unhelpful' NATO allies (Germany, Spain) and repositioning them to supportive members (Poland, Romania, Greece, Lithuania). CNN analysis found that despite Trump's rhetoric, Americans broadly support NATO — complicating the political calculus. The legal obstacle remained significant: Congress passed a law in 2023 requiring congressional approval for any president to exit the alliance, and legal scholars noted Trump could not withdraw unilaterally. NATO's Rutte left the White House without a crisis or a commitment, in what analysts described as a managed de-escalation. The Washington Post reported that Trump could not formally exit NATO without Congress but could functionally 'wreck' it through troop redeployments and reduced cooperation — a strategy the administration appeared to be exploring.