Trump floats US troop pullout from Italy, Spain

US President Donald Trump has suggested that Washington could consider withdrawing American forces from Spain and Italy, accusing both NATO allies of failing to support the United States adequately.

Speaking at an event at the White House on April 30, Trump said a pullout was “probably” possible when asked about the future of US troop deployments in Europe.

“Yeah, I probably will. Why should I? You know, look, why shouldn’t I?” he said.

Trump criticised both countries, arguing that they had not been sufficiently helpful to Washington, particularly in relation to Ukraine.

“Italy has not been of any help to us, and Spain has been horrible. Absolutely horrible,” he said.

“You know, it’s NATO. It’s not even the fact that they’ve been. It’s one thing if they said nicely or if they said, ‘Okay, we’ll help, but the help is a little slow.’”

He added: “But the level, and we helped them with Ukraine. You know, they made a mess out of Ukraine, a total mess. And we help them with Ukraine. Ukraine has nothing to do, you know, we’re an ocean apart. It has to do with them. It’s like for them it’s their front door.”

By Aghakazim Guliyev