Why NATO has to prepare for life without Trump
This Is Why
Sky News
4.0 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2026
⏱️ 19 minutes
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Summary
Another night, another post on Truth Social from Donald Trump criticising NATO. As other leaders try to persuade him to stay in the alliance, plans are being prepared in case the US goes through with its threat to walk away.
At the same time, the UK government is in a muddle on defence spending – with criticism from current and former military chiefs - but no decisions yet on how and when to boost budgets.
Niall and Sky's military analyst Professor Michael Clarke debrief on what a post-Trump NATO might look like.
Have you got a question for Niall? Email the show: why@sky.uk
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sky News, the full story first. |
| 0:10.3 | Hi there, it's Mark Stone here, co-host of Trump 100, the Sky News podcast, all about US politics. |
| 0:16.5 | And for the second time in seven days, I've spoken to the president in a phone interview and I asked him |
| 0:22.2 | all about the UK-US special relationship. How special is it? He is pretty scathing. We had a bit of |
| 0:28.3 | a back and forth as well about whether he's spreading fake news, about why he thinks it's up to him |
| 0:33.7 | to lecture the UK about its problems. If you want to know what he said and how the latest |
| 0:40.2 | phone call played out, why did we speak to him? How did we speak to him? You can listen to Trump |
| 0:45.0 | 100 wherever you get your podcasts or you can watch us on YouTube. Just type in Sky News, Trump |
| 0:50.6 | 100 into YouTube. Looking forward to having you join us. |
| 0:54.7 | Thanks. |
| 0:55.2 | Bye-bye. |
| 0:59.8 | NATO is actively preparing for a life without the United States, and this is why. |
| 1:04.8 | Thank you. Hi everyone, Neil here. And with all the speculation about where the world is currently heading, i.e. to hell in a handcart, we thought today we'd take a closer look at NATO, specifically what it might look like in future. Because for all that we're told, we'd take a closer look at NATO, specifically, what it might look like in future. |
| 1:29.9 | Because for all that we're told, we should take Donald Trump seriously, but not literally. |
| 1:34.4 | He's been very clear, time and again, that the US might not be around for the long haul. |
| 1:39.4 | And I have to tell you, I'm very disappointed in NATO, very, because I've always said NATO's a paper tiger. |
| 1:45.1 | So NATO is now planning for the day the Americans pick their ball up and head home. It's |
| 1:50.4 | mostly been taking place behind the scenes. It's certainly not been reported widely. But it is |
| 1:55.5 | happening. And NATO's 31 other members are working out ways to fill that big Trump-shaped hole. |
| 2:02.2 | That includes the UK. |
| 2:03.7 | So we are the strategic guarantors of the North Atlantic, through the Navy, and for Northern Europe, air and sea. |
| 2:11.4 | So it's a different role. Can we perform it? No. |
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