April 8, 2026
President Trump has made no secret that he is not happy with NATO or our NATO allies…and has openly considered pulling the United States out of NATO. But can he do that? Well – we’re going to get to that in a second.
But first – today– the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met with Trump at the white house with and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to talk about the US’s future with NATO and what’s happening with the war with Iran. In case there was any question – this is how White House press secretary Karolyn Leavitt framed the president’s thinking before he met with Rutte.
Sure sounds like Trump wants out of NATO which of course is not new…he’s been saying that for more than a decade. But the question is can he do it? Can he pull the US out of NATO? The short answer is no. But — will he do it and get away with it? The answer is maybe. First of all you need to know that the reason the United States is involved with NATO is because of a treaty – NATO is literally the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The treaty that formed NATO was signed in Washington DC in 1949.
So as I just reported, no, Trump cannot singlehandedly pull the United States out of NATO because of a law passed in 2023 that says the president shall not suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the united states from the North Atlantic Treaty….except by and with the advice and consent of the senate, provided that two-thirds of the senators present concur, or pursuant to an act of congress.”
What does that mean? It means that legally in order for the president to remove the US from NATO he would need to have two-thirds of the senate vote yes – that’s 67 senators…not going to happen. Or – a new law would have to be passed by both the house and the senate to remove the US from NATO. – also not going to happen.
Fun fact – this law was co-sponsored by then-Senator Marco Rubio. At the time he posted this to his social media page saying no US president should be able to withdraw from NATO without senate approval. Of course now that he’s the Secretary of State, Rubio has changed his tune and has now joined in Trump’s criticism of NATO.
So – the fact is – this law exists and says Trump cannot withdraw the US from NATO on his own — but as with all things involved with the Trump administration – it’s not that simple. And that’s because the trump administration may point to this department of justice opinion memo from 2020 – during trump’s first term. This DOJ opinion says that the president of the United States has exclusive power over treaty withdrawal and that congress is constitutionally prohibited from intruding on that presidential power. The DOJ opinion goes further and says – even the courts have no right to challenge that presidential power either.
So – here’s the reality – if Trump wants to remove the United States from NATO – he may just do it and rely on the finding of that 2020 DOJ opinion regardless of that 2023 law. And that of course would set up a significant constitutional question — which branch of government has the power over withdrawals from treaties. Now – the answer is not a slam dunk for either the executive branch or the legislative branch. And even the courts would have to decide if they have any jurisdiction over the case and who would even have standing to bring such a lawsuit to challenge trump’s action. It’s also possible that under trump’s power as the commander in chief – he could just order the withdrawal of American troops currently stationed in NATO countries.
Read the 2023 law here. (page 330)
Read the 2020 DOJ opinion here.
Read Marco Rubio’s tweet here.
