Trump says US committed to NATO's mutual defense pledge

Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States remained committed to NATO's mutual defense pledge, after he failed to endorse it in a speech in Brussels last month.

Amid worries by Washington's European partners that the US leader had not fully bought into the Atlantic alliance, Trump told reporters: "I'm committing the United States to Article Five. Certainly we are there to protect."

"That's one of the reasons that I want people to make sure we have a very, very strong force, by paying the kinds of money necessary to have that force," Trump told a joint press conference with visiting Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

The US president stunned Europe's leaders at a summit in Brussels on May 25 when he failed to publicly back the now 29-member bloc's founding mutual defense guarantee.

Instead he castigated the allies for failing to pay their way with contributions to NATO forces, singling out especially Germany.

According to Politico, Trump's defense and security advisors included in his prepared speech a clear endorsement of the mutual defense pledge, but Trump himself struck it out just before speaking.

Doubts have remained since then, despite US diplomats and military leaders themselves restating the pledge.

- Trump to visit Poland -

Just days before his January 20 inauguration, Trump rocked the post-World War II western alliance by calling NATO "obsolete."

Article Five has been the core of the NATO treaty's strength since it was formed amid a budding Cold War with communist states -- particularly the Soviet Union -- in 1949.

It has only been invoked once -- in support of the United States, after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

On Thursday, Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee had called on Trump to declare his support for Article Five.

Trump's pledge on Friday came shortly before the White House announced that he would travel to NATO ally Poland ahead of the Group of 20 summit in early July.

"The visit will reaffirm America's steadfast commitment to one of our closest European allies and emphasize the administration's priority of strengthening NATO's collective defense," the White House said. (ontinueReading