President Donald Trump on Tuesday has again refused to state whether he would commit the United States to continued support of the mutual defense provision in the NATO treaty that saw America’s allies come to her aid after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while flying to The Hague for the alliance’s annual leader-level summit, the president was asked if he was still committed to Article Five of the North Atlantic Treaty, which states that an attack against one member is considered an attack against all of the organization’s 32 member nations.
Trump, who often refused to voice U.S. support for the collective defense pact during his first term — and only did so begrudgingly when pressed on the matter — declined to say for sure.
He replied: “It depends on your definition. There’s numerous definitions of Article Five. You know that, right?”
The president added that he was nonetheless “committed to being … friends” with the other members of the alliance because he had “become friends with many of those leaders” and was “committed to helping them.”
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