EXCLUSIVE — Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Thursday that any effort to leave NATO would require approval from Congress, pushing back on President Donald Trump’s assertion that he could withdraw unilaterally.
“Yeah, absolutely, I don’t think you can make that kind of a decision unilaterally,” Thune told the Washington Examiner in a sit-down interview.
“Congress is definitely — on something like that, there isn’t any question Congress is gonna want to be heard from,” he added.
On Tuesday, Trump said in the Oval Office that he was “disappointed” with NATO over its unwillingness to help the United States secure the Strait of Hormuz and that leaving the alliance is “certainly something we should think about.”
Under a law passed in late 2023, the president is prohibited from withdrawing from NATO without a two-thirds vote by the Senate or separate legislation severing the relationship. But Trump said that he could “work with some very smart people” should he decide the alliance is no longer useful.
“I don’t need Congress for that decision, as you probably know. I can make that decision myself,” Trump said, before caveating that he’d “always deal with Congress anyway.”
In the interview, Thune called NATO “probably the most effective alliance in history” and said that senators were “heavily invested” in its success. It was created to counter Soviet-era aggression and today serves as a bulwark against Russian expansion into Europe.
Thune added, however, that he believed Trump “rightly” has tested that relationship by requiring member nations to contribute more to their own collective defense.
“I mean, the United States has been carrying way too much of that burden through the years, and I think the president, to his credit, has successfully persuaded a lot of NATO countries that they’ve got to do more, and they’ve got to be more responsible,” Thune said. “They’re the front line on a lot of these issues in that region of the world.”
Trump’s comments come as the U.S. attempts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran shut down after the president ordered military strikes more than two weeks ago. The passageway carries 20% of the world’s oil supply, and Trump argued that other countries should shoulder some of the responsibility of protecting vessels from Iranian attacks.
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He fumed on Tuesday that the U.S. had spent tens of billions helping Ukraine fend off Russia’s invasion, but that the relationship appeared to be a “one-way street.” Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but has received similar aid packages from Europe.
Thune, for his part, has a long-standing interest in maintaining the U.S. relationship with NATO and organized a Senate delegation to Denmark, Norway, and other member countries last summer.