Britain's reaction after Trump says he is considering pulling out of NATO: 'We are fully committed'
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would act in his country's interests regardless of the “noise” around him when asked about US President Donald Trump's statement that he was seriously considering withdrawing the United States from NATO, according to Reuters and AFP.
“Regardless of the pressure put on me and others, regardless of the noise around me, I will act in the British national interest in the decisions I make,” Starmer told reporters on Wednesday.
The British Prime Minister defended NATO, calling it “the most effective military alliance the world has ever known”.
NATO has “secured our security for several decades and we are fully committed” to the alliance, the Labor leader told a Downing Street press conference.
Starmer said global instability caused by the Iran war meant Britain should align more closely with the European Union on security and economics, in response to criticism from US President Donald Trump.
He said the impact of the war “will define us for a generation” and could be similar to the energy price spike of the 1970s.
“We want to be more ambitious, to have closer economic cooperation, closer security cooperation, a partnership that recognizes our common values, our common interest and our common future” with the EU, Starmer told reporters.
Starmer's reaction came after, in an interview with Britain's Daily Telegraph, the US president criticized European allies and described the North Atlantic alliance as a “paper tiger”.
Trump described the alliance as a “paper tiger” and said the US withdrawal from the defense treaty was now “beyond reconsideration”, the paper reported.
The US-UK 'special relationship', a phrase first used by Winston Churchill in 1946, is underlined by their cloistering within NATO, the 'Five Eyes' intelligence network and their enormous economic relationship, with each being the other's largest investor.
