European countries emerge as NATO leaders as U.S. role recedes

World European countries emerge as NATO leaders as U.S. role recedes May 8, 20265:00 AM ET By  Scott Neuman President Trump attends a bilateral meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images As President Trump seeks to wind down the war in Iran, the United States is facing not only economic fallout such as higher gas prices but also mounting geopolitical costs. Fresh disputes between Washington and NATO over the Middle East conflict are pushing European leaders to seriously consider a future in which the U.S. no longer leads the alliance. Middle East conflict The Iran war now has a price tag ($25 billion), but still no end date Sources & Methods Who is driving U.S. policy in Iran? Trump's decision to leave NATO in the dark before launching strikes on Iran — as well as his subsequent call for the alliance to assist in reopening the Strait of Hormuz — has inflamed tensions that had been simmering for months over the president's threats to seize control of NATO-linked Greenland and Canada, along with repeated suggestions that the United States might withdraw from the alliance entirely. "Something fundamental has broken," says Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama. Trump, he says, doesn't believe America's security depends on the security of Europe — a position that defies decades of foreign policy logic going back to the end of World War II, when NATO was founded by the U.S., Canada and their European allies to provide a bulwark against Soviet aggression. Sponsor Message It has Europe and Canada increasingly asking an unthinkable question, Daalder says: Will the United States come to the aid of its NATO allies? That anxiety is reshaping military planning, defense spending, procurement decisions and the future structure of the alliance itself. W...