Top Foreign Affairs Republican Sen. Jim Risch predicted the U.S. would not abandon NATO under the Trump administration – and promised to work with the new president to strengthen it instead.
Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, who leads the powerful Foreign Relations Committee under the new Republican majority, said his number one priority is “getting Trump’s team in place.” He said he is “cautiously optimistic” that they can get Marco Rubio, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, confirmed by Inauguration Day.
Speaking with Fox News Digital one day after meeting with Trump, the chairman said he believes that Trump’s national security apparatus is going to be less frenzied this time around.
“Anybody you talk to will tell you it’s really different this time,” he said. “It’s gonna be a lot better.”
He said Trump discussed foreign policy priorities while meeting with senators on Wednesday, but declined to share details.
Risch seems to pay little heed to Trump’s threats to pull the U.S. out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
“I think everyone’s recognized now with what Russia’s done, that the original founders of NATO were very right that we have to stand up and come together,” he said. “I don’t think anybody would have the idea that we should leave NATO.”
“We had a vote here in the Congress on whether or not we should leave NATO,” he went on. “Overwhelmingly, that vote passed.”
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In December 2023, Congress passed legislation as part of the NDAA that barred any president from removing the U.S. from NATO without approval from two-thirds of the Senate or an act of Congress. That provision was spearheaded by Rubio.
Risch said that after Trump’s first term and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nations “very slowly” began to boost their military budgets. Canada is not on track to hit the 2% target until 2032.
But now, 23 out of 32 NATO states meet the 2% target, which Republicans now say is not enough.
Risch said he’s long had plans to work to get allies to boost their spending.
“We’re going to have to do more. So there’s a lot of discussion about what that looks like, and President Trump and I think European countries are going to fall in line. They really need to.”
Trump said in December that he would “absolutely” leave NATO if his terms weren’t being met. He’s long advocated for other members of the 32-member alliance to increase defense spending.
“If they’re paying their bills, and if I think they’re treating us fairly, the answer is absolutely I’d stay with NATO,” he said.
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But to some, the comments were seen as leverage – a way to force nations lagging in defense spending to step it up. While NATO has long had a goal for its member states to spend 2% on defense, and many are still negligent, Trump recently moved the goalpost to 5% – more than any nation currently spends.
“They can all afford it, but they should be at five percent, not two percent,” Trump said during an appearance at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.
He complained that Europe had far more to lose than the U.S., given its geographical closeness to adversaries.
President-elect Donald Trump delivers remarks during a campaign rally at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on Oct. 15, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The ruins of the city of Toretsk are in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on December 19, 2024. (Photo by Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“Europe is in for a tiny fraction of the money that we’re in [for],” Trump said during an appearance at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida late Tuesday. “We have a thing called the ocean in between us, right? Why are we in for billions and billions of dollars more money than Europe?”
Last year, the U.S. spent 3.4% of its GDP on defense. Poland spent the most, at 4.12%.
Risch, who last led the Foreign Relations Committee from 2019 to 2021, said he plans to work with Trump on returning to a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, tightening sanctions to squeeze the regime’s economic system.
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“They are going to go back to the maximum pressure,” he said. “I’m encouraging it.”
“The Biden administration shoveled a bunch of cash at them, begged them to come to the table for an agreement.”
“Iran is going to have to make some really tough decisions, because I just don’t see, with exterior pressure they’re getting, with the interior pressure they’re getting, that they can sustain what they’ve been doing.”
