FOREIGN POLICY/NATO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump is expected to publicly endorse NATO’s mutual defense commitment at a ceremony on Thursday [5-25-17] at the alliance’s headquarters, an administration official said, breaking months of silence about whether the United States would automatically come to the aid of an ally under attack.
Mr. Trump will make the promise in Brussels at the start of three days of meetings with European heads of state, according to the official, who was briefed on the president’s planned remarks. The speech will come as Mr. Trump unveils a memorial to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the only time in the 28-nation military alliance’s history that the mutual defense pledge, known as Article 5, has been invoked.
Since his inauguration, Mr. Trump had repeatedly refused to endorse Article 5, a thunderous silence that rattled American allies and raised fears about NATO’s future at a time of increasing tension with Russia and terrorist attacks like the one in Manchester, England, on Monday.
Even before taking office, Mr. Trump expressed skepticism about NATO’s role in ensuring security on the European continent, and the financial costs that the United States bears in maintaining the alliance’s military might.”
-Michael D. Shear and Mark Landler, “Trump Expected to Endorse NATO Mutual Aid Pledge, Ending Silence,” The New York Times online, May 24, 2017