ABC News(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump declared NATO a “fine-tuned machine” in an impromptu news conference at the conclusion of his participation in a contentious NATO summit during which he has questioned the utility of the alliance and harshly criticized some of the United States’ closest allies for not paying more into the alliance.
The alliance is much stronger than it was at the outset of the conference, Trump said Thursday, taking credit for what he said are increased commitments from allies to up spending, citing an increased commitment of $33 billion to the alliance.
“Yesterday, I let them know that I was extremely unhappy with what was happening and they have substantially upped their commitment and they have a very powerful, very strong NATO appeared much stronger than it was two days ago,” Trump said.
The president told reporters he “probably” had the unilateral power to pull the United States out of NATO if he chose to but said he thinks it’s unnecessary.
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