Fears have rippled through Europe about whether the U.S. under its new steward, President Donald Trump, could abandon NATO. But Trump, a notorious skeptic of the U.S.-led transatlantic alliance, would not have to pull out of NATO to break it up.

Axar.az informs this was reported by Newsweek.

The White House does, in fact, have many options, if it wishes to undermine the alliance. All it would take to effectively spell an end to NATO without a formal withdrawal, experts say, is for the Trump administration to slash away at the trust underpinning the very existence of the alliance.

For many, this process has already begun.

How Would Trump Pull the U.S. out of NATO?

To officially extricate the U.S. from NATO, the Trump administration would have to give a year's notice, according to the alliance's Article 13. In an indication of past confidence in unwavering U.S. commitment, the notice must be handed to the U.S. government, and Washington then informs other states of the move.

Trump would also need to consult with, and then notify, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, as well as the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said Edward Hunter Christie, former NATO official.

Congress also passed legislation in late 2023 that stopped any U.S. president from withdrawing the U.S. from NATO without approval from two-thirds of the Senate or a separate measure passed by Congress.

The measure, which was pushed by the now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was included in the National Defense Authorization Act for the 2024 fiscal year that now-former President Joe Biden signed into law.

What Could Trump Do To Cast Doubt on Article 5?

But rather than going down this path, there are several avenues Trump could pursue that would de facto split apart the alliance without having to go through the dramatic formalities of pulling out of NATO.

"The informal process would be even easier," said David Blagden, associate professor of international security and strategy at the U.K.'s University of Exeter. A whisper from the Trump administration that the U.S. wouldn't fulfill its commitment to Article 5 and much of NATO's credibility would be "effectively dead," he told Newsweek.

Article 5 is the bedrock of NATO. It is the article of the alliance's founding treaty that commits other NATO states to help out any member that comes under armed attack, with the response they deem appropriate.

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