Elon Musk has pushed for the United States' exit from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), saying that it “doesn’t make sense for America to pay for the defense of Europe.”
Elon Musk listens as US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC.(AFP)
Elon Musk listens as US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC.(AFP)
The billionaire, who co-chairs the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was responding to an X post that called for US to “Exit NATO *now*!”
“We really should,” Musk said.
On March 2, Musk had responded a post on X which said,"It’s time to leave NATO and the UN".
“I agree,” the Tesla chief executive officer said.
Musk’s comments comes at a time when the future of the 32-member NATO, which will mark its 76th anniversary in April, hangs in the balance.
According to NBC, US President Donald Trump on March 6 discussed with aides calibrating US engagement with NATO in a way that favours members of the alliance that spend a certain percentage of their GDP on defense.
ALSO READ: Trump casts doubt on NATO solidarity, despite it aiding the US after Sept. 11
‘If they don’t pay, I'm not going to defend them': Trump
Trump said he told NATO allies that if they’re not going to pay their bills, he won’t defend them.
“It’s common sense, right. If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them. No, I’m not going to defend them," Bloomberg quoted Trump as saying at the Oval Office.
Within NATO, Europe — which largely disarmed after the Cold War — is reliant on the US for communications, intelligence and logistics as well as strategic military leadership and firepower.
European Union leaders met in Brussels for an emergency summit last week to massively increase defense spending.
The officials discussed a European Commission proposal that includes as much as €150 billion ($162.5 billion) in loans to member states for defense, as well as plans to allow countries to use their national budgets to potentially spend €650 billion on defense over four years without triggering budgetary penalties.
“In the last weeks, we’ve seen what I would call quite a turbulent development. It’s still not perhaps very clear what finally will be the American strategy," EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius told Bloomberg.
Under a 2023 law, a president can’t unilaterally withdraw from the alliance without a two-thirds supermajority in the Senate or an act of Congress.
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