Romney: NATO would rethink U.S. relationship if Trump wins 2024 election

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Tuesday in a CNN interview that if former President Donald Trump won the 2024 election, the NATO alliance would be significantly damaged. Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, said NATO members would wonder whether they could continue to count on the United States.

Video Transcript

MITT ROMNEY: And they wonder whether we're going to return to the-- if you will-- the policies that we've had for the last 70 years, or whether we're instead going to take the turn that Donald Trump represented. If he were to come back as the US President, I think it would represent a pretty dramatic departure for the world, and they would rethink whether they can count on the United States to-- [MUSIC PLAYING] Well, I think what's happened in NATO is that they have said, can we rely on the US? And is this America First idea, which is the president saying to everybody, hey, go off and do your own thing. I think that approach is one that frightens other members of NATO, and they wonder are we committed to NATO, and to our mutual defense, or are we all going to go off on our own? And so they wonder. - Are they ever going to get over that, do you think? - Well, they wonder whether we're going to return to the-- if you will-- the policies that we've had for the last 70 years, or whether we're instead going to take the turn that Donald Trump represented. If he were to come back as the US President I think it would represent a pretty dramatic departure for the world, and they would rethink whether they can count on the United States to lead NATO, and to lead other nations as they push back against China and against Russia. - So you think that the 2024 election will decide this question? About permanent damage to Nato? - I think if President Trump were to return as president, that the nations of the world would say that they have to really rethink. [MUSIC PLAYING]