Elon Musk, who appears to not be dealing so well with his unpopularity in Europe, has publicly endorsed the idea of the US withdrawing from NATO, saying it “doesn’t make sense for America to pay for the defense of Europe.”
This marks Musk’s second public statement supporting NATO withdrawal in recent days. On March 3, the Tesla CEO indicated agreement with a suggestion that the US should leave both NATO and the United Nations.
Musk’s comments come at a critical juncture for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which will mark its 76th anniversary next month amid growing uncertainty about its future under the Trump administration.
President Trump has repeatedly criticized European allies’ defense spending levels. During a March 6 Oval Office meeting with reporters, Trump explicitly threatened to withhold defense support from NATO members that don’t meet spending thresholds.
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“If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them. No, I’m not going to defend them,” Trump said. “It’s common sense, right?”
NBC reported that same day that Trump has discussed with aides a plan to calibrate US engagement with NATO based on whether alliance members spend a certain percentage of their GDP on defense.
Trump has reportedly called for European members to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP — significantly more than any member, including the US, currently allocates. Trump also halted military aid to Ukraine after a contentious Oval Office confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
This has prompted an emergency response from European leaders, who met in Brussels last week to discuss massive increases in defense spending. The European Commission has proposed up to €150 billion ($162.5 billion) in loans to member states for defense purposes, along with a framework allowing countries to potentially spend €650 billion on defense over four years without triggering budgetary penalties.
Military analysts note that Europe remains heavily dependent on the US for communications, intelligence, logistics, strategic leadership, and firepower, having largely scaled back its military capabilities after the Cold War.
EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius acknowledged the uncertainty in a Bloomberg TV appearance Friday: “In the last weeks, we’ve seen what I would call quite a turbulent development. It’s still not perhaps very clear what finally will be the American strategy.”
It’s unclear how Musk’s public opinion on NATO will impact Trump’s next steps. Under a 2023 law, a US president cannot unilaterally withdraw from the alliance without a two-thirds supermajority in the Senate or an act of Congress.
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