- Elon Musk has called for the US to exit NATO.
- In a post on X, Musk said it “doesn’t make sense for America to pay for the defense of Europe.”
- Trump has repeatedly criticized European defense spending and threatened to leave NATO if allies didn’t pay more.
Billionaire Elon Musk has suggested the US should leave NATO, as tensions between the US and its European allies continue to build.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, reshared a post on X Sunday that read “Exit NATO now!”
“We really should,” Musk wrote. “Doesn’t make sense for America to pay for the defense of Europe.”
The current White House administration has had an increasingly strained relationship with its European NATO partners, with President Donald Trump repeatedly criticizing Europe’s defense spending.
Trump has called on European members of the alliance to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP —significantly more than any member, including the US, currently spends. In his first term in office, Trump also threatened to withdraw from the alliance if allies did not boost spending.
While a number of countries have since pledged to make such changes, Trump has remained skeptical, saying earlier this month that the US would not defend NATO members who don’t pay enough for their own defense.
It comes at a pivotal time for Europe as it seeks to step up support for Ukraine while the US appears to be pulling away from Kyiv. Trump announced that he would pause military aid to the country earlier this month following his dramatic clash with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the Oval Office.
Musk has taken on an influential role in the Trump administration.
In his position as head of DOGE, he has pushed for mass layoffs of federal workers and canceled federal contracts in a bid to cut government spending.
