Former President Donald Trump allegedly vowed he would never come to Europe’s rescue if the continent were to be attacked, French European Commissioner Thierry Breton said Tuesday at an event in the European Parliament.
Breton said the comments came during a tense 2020 meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was the recipient of Trump’s warning. Former EU trade chief Phil Hogan was also present, according to Breton.
“You need to understand that if Europe is under attack, we will never come to help you and to support you,” Trump purportedly said.
“By the way, NATO is dead, and we will leave, we will quit NATO,” Trump allegedly added. “You owe me $400 billion because you didn’t pay, you Germans, what you had to pay for defense.”
Trump’s comments about NATO have evolved since he hit the campaign trail in 2015, but he has remained critical from the beginning.
“You can’t forget the bills,” Trump told the New York Times in 2016. “They have an obligation to make payments. Many NATO nations are not making payments, are not making what they’re supposed to make. That’s a big thing. You can’t say forget that.”
The same year, he called NATO obsolete and told CNN in a March town hall that it was time to rethink U.S. involvement in the alliance, which he described days later as “unfair, economically, to us.”
My statement on NATO being obsolete and disproportionately too expensive (and unfair) for the U.S. are now, finally, receiving plaudits!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2016
In 2018, Trump called it unnecessary to pull out of NATO following a summit in Germany, citing commitments from allied countries to uphold their financial obligations. French President Emmanuel Macron said that Trump “never at any moment” threatened to withdraw from the alliance at the summit.
In January 2019, the New York Times reported on claims from senior Trump aides that the then-president repeatedly had discussed withdrawing from NATO the year prior, undermining his public comments downplaying the possibility of a withdrawal.
Rolling Stone reported in October 2023 that Trump wanted to pull out of NATO during his first term but was convinced otherwise by officials within his administration. The outlet reported that the former president has continued his willingness to withdraw from the alliance if elected in 2024.
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“That was a big wake-up call, and [Trump] may come back,” Breton said. “So now more than ever, we know that we are on our own.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Trump’s campaign and Breton’s team for comment.