NEW YORK, March 22. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump would not have to pull out of NATO to break it up, Newsweek writes.
According to the magazine, "the White House does, in fact, have many options, if it wishes to undermine the alliance."
"The informal process would be even easier," said David Blagden, associate professor of international security and strategy at the UK’s University of Exeter, told Newsweek. According to him, a whisper from the Trump administration that the US would not fulfill its commitment to Article Five and much of NATO's credibility would be "effectively dead."
"Already, that trust that was the heart of the relationship has begun to erode," added Neil Melvin, director of international security at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank. "It's less, I think, about formal process of leaving the alliance," Melvin told Newsweek, "and more the doubt that begins to creep in about whether the US is really going to be there."
NBC News reported on March 6 that Trump was considering "the possibility of calibrating America’s NATO engagement in a way that favors members of the alliance that spend a set percentage of their gross domestic product on defense." In addition, according to the broadcaster, "the US may choose to prioritize military exercises with NATO members that are spending the set percentage of their GDPs on defense." The Trump administration "has already signaled to America’s European allies that the US could reduce its military presence in Europe," NBC News added, citing former senior US officials.