Trump Threatens NATO Over Europe's Support Gap, Reiterates Greenland Ambitions

President Donald Trump emerged from a two-hour closed-door meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House on Wednesday and immediately took to Truth Social to vent, writing in all capitals: "NATO WASN'T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON'T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN. REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!"

The outburst came one day after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, and it crystallized the dual grievances Trump has been nursing: the alliance's refusal to back his war on Iran, and his unresolved ambition to acquire Greenland from NATO member Denmark.

Several NATO members resisted supporting the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran, denying American military aircraft use of their airspace and declining to contribute naval forces to efforts aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz to energy shipping. France and Spain specifically refused to let the U.S. use their airspace for strikes against Iran. Trump had made the stakes plain the week before, telling allies bluntly to "go to the strait and just take it."

Before the Rutte meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt set an unambiguous tone, arguing that NATO member states had "turned their backs on the American people" who fund their nations' defense, and said Trump would have a "very frank and candid conversation" with the NATO chief. Leavitt confirmed that Trump had discussed the possibility of leaving NATO.

Rutte, who has cultivated a reputation as a diplomatic bridge between Washington and European capitals, offered only a carefully worded statement through NATO spokeswoman Allison Hart, confirming the two had "a frank discussion on a range of issues related to our shared security, including in the context of Iran." Rutte declined to say Thursday whether Trump had repeated his threat to quit the military organization, saying only that the U.S. leader was disappointed in some allies for being too slow to help with the Iran war. In a CNN interview, when asked whether NATO allies had been tested and failed, Rutte answered: "Some of them, yes."

Trump himself tied the Greenland dispute directly to the broader NATO rupture. Earlier in the week, he told reporters: "It all began with, if you want to know the truth, Greenland. We want Greenland. They don't want to give it to us. And I said, 'bye, bye.'" In January, Trump had said he and Rutte reached "the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland," but the Iran war brought those negotiations to a halt as fresh alliance tensions emerged.

Administration officials indicated Trump may relocate troops stationed in NATO countries that refused to assist in waging war against Iran. Trump has also pushed to raise the NATO defense spending benchmark to 5 percent of GDP by 2035, up from the current 2 percent target, and has labeled members who fall short as "delinquents."

With the ceasefire in place and Rutte returning to Brussels without a public commitment from Trump to stay in the alliance, the question of whether the world's most powerful military partnership can survive its most serious internal test in decades remained pointedly unanswered.