Then-U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during the 50th World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21, 2020.JONATHAN ERNST/Reuters
The United States will never help Europe if it came under attack and will leave NATO, which is dead, Donald Trump told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in 2020 while he was still president, according to a European Commissioner.
“You need to understand that if Europe is under attack, we will never come to help you and to support you,” Thierry Breton quoted Trump as saying during a meeting he also attended at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2020.
“By the way, NATO is dead, and we will leave, we will quit NATO,” Trump also said, according to the European Union official who spoke at a panel discussion on Tuesday, hosted by the Renew Europe party group at the European Parliament.
“And by the way, you owe me $400 billion, because you didn’t pay, you Germans, what you had to pay for defense.”
Trump is the frontrunner to be the Republican nominee in the 2024 election, with opinion polls predicting a tight contest against Democratic President Joe Biden in November’s election.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
During his first term from 2017 to 2021, Trump repeatedly clashed with traditional allies over trade and defense spending.
Trump himself has offered few clues about what kind of foreign policy he would pursue were he to win in 2024 beyond broad claims like ending the Ukraine war in 24 hours, prompting concern in European capitals.
During a second term, he would likely install loyalists in key positions, allowing him more freedom to enact isolationist policies and whims, according to current and former aides and diplomats.
A spokesperson for Biden’s campaign said: “The idea that he would abandon our allies if he doesn’t get his way underscores what we already know to be true about Donald Trump: The only person he cares about is himself.”
For Breton, Trump’s 2020 comments were “a big wake-up call and it may come back.”