Trump says NATO not obsolete, reversing campaign stance

Trump says NATO not obsolete, reversing campaign stance
President Donald Trump reaches to shake hands with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP)
Updated 13 April 2017
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Trump says NATO not obsolete, reversing campaign stance

Trump says NATO not obsolete, reversing campaign stance

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that NATO is not obsolete, as he had declared on the campaign trail last year, but said NATO members still need to pay their fair share for the European security umbrella.
At a news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Trump thanked NATO members for their support of his decision last Thursday to launch 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack on civilians and said it was time to end Syria’s civil war.
“I said it was obsolete. It’s no longer obsolete,” Trump said, adding that the Transatlantic alliance was adapting to the broader mission against Islamic militants that he had urged.
Stoltenberg said he had an excellent and productive meeting in the Oval Office with Trump.

WATCH: Trump meets NATO chief at the White House