February 12, 2026

Trump’s NATO Dilemma

By: Sara Moller

This article was originally published in Foreign Affairs.

Last November, Matthew Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, startled a gathering of European officials at the Berlin Security Conference by remarking that he looked forward to the day when Germany would tell the United States, “We’re ready to take over the supreme allied commander position.” Despite Whitaker’s acknowledgment that such a moment was not imminent, his comments nonetheless shocked the audience of seasoned security officials who, like much of Washington, have long regarded NATO’s top military post as an American prerogative.

Trump may not see the United States’ and Europe’s defense as intimately linked in the ways his predecessors have, but reforming NATO’s command structure along the lines envisioned by the administration would run counter to U.S. security interests far beyond Europe

Whitaker’s remark is indicative of a broader pattern of U.S. disengagement from the transatlantic alliance that has taken shape over the past year. Amid a sea of disruptions—territorial threats against Denmark, missed alliance meetings by senior U.S. diplomats, and planned personnel reductions at NATO installations—the Trump administration’s second-term approach to NATO is now coming into focus. Rather than openly abandoning the alliance, as some analysts feared, the United States appears to be “quiet quitting”: incrementally stepping away from the alliance it has led for close to eight decades. The White House seems to believe that only if the United States steps back will Europe finally be forced to step up.

Read the full article on Foreign Affairs.

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