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US President Donald Trump spoke to reporters at the White House ahead of his upcoming meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The reporters asked Trump about the announced review of the US military presence in NATO member countries, which is being carried out by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, and whether Washington plans to withdraw its forces from Europe.
"We were a great member of NATO, in many ways the only real member, certainly the dominant member. We paid trillions of dollars over the years, not billions, but trillions of dollars to defend Europe. When we wanted to know something and I didn't need help, I was more curious, I said to Pete Hegseth, 'Let's see if they actually show up.' And so we asked them to come, and they weren't there for us. It's stupid that they weren't," Trump said.
In his speech, Trump specifically attacked the resigned British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, accusing him of complete passivity and evasion of allied obligations.
“However, Starmer wasn’t there and you know what? The people of the United Kingdom didn’t like it at all. Starmer said no. In fact, he said something worse than ‘no.’ He said, ‘We’ll be there as soon as you win.’ I said, ‘We don’t need you as soon as we win.’ Before I went into action, we called him and he said, ‘Oh, we’ll be there.’ We weren’t dealing with Winston Churchill with him, I can guarantee you that. But Starmer said he would be there, right, Pete? As soon as we win. As soon as we win, they’ll come and help us, okay?” Trump said.
In addition to Great Britain, the American president also mentioned other major European countries as bad partners in the Alliance, once again raising the issue of justification for large American contributions to common defense.
"Italy was very bad. Italy was very bad, and other countries, oh, Germany was very bad. So we spent all this money, I think we spend about 600 billion a year, right? I would say that. The numbers that we spend on NATO are absolutely crazy, and they were not there for us. So I say to Pete and everyone else, if we spend all this money, hundreds of millions of dollars to defend them, mainly from Russia... Listen, we spend all this money, and then when maybe we want help with some little things and these are little things, that's not that big, that's the difference, they say 'No, we'd rather not help.' That's a stupid thing to say, because we could say the same thing to them, if we wanted to," Trump concluded.
Reporter: You've been reviewing US presence in NATO. What's the conversation with Rutte?
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) June 22, 2026
Trump: We spent trillions protecting Europe from Russia. When we wanted help on small stuff, they said no.
Starmer said no, this was not Winston Churchill. Italy very bad. Germany very bad.… pic.twitter.com/CYL6AVVvyS
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