Republican congressman introduces bill on US leaving NATO

Republican Thomas Massie, a member of the US House of Representatives from the state of Kentucky, has introduced a bill proposing that the United States withdraw from NATO.

"NATO is a Cold War relic. The United States should withdraw from NATO and use that money to defend our country, not socialist countries. Today, I introduced HR 6508 to end our NATO membership," Massie wrote on X.

In his bill, Massie states that NATO was created to counter the Soviet Union, which collapsed more than 30 years ago.

"Since then, US participation has cost taxpayers trillions of dollars and continues to risk US involvement in foreign wars," the document says.

The proposed legislation obliges US President Donald Trump to formally notify NATO of the withdrawal no later than 30 days after the law enters into force.

The document also states that NATO's European members have sufficient economic and military capacity to ensure their own defence.

At the beginning of Trump's second term, media reports indicated that he was considering significant changes to American participation in NATO.

In October, Trump suggested that he might propose expelling Spain from NATO because the country does not spend enough on defence.

Read also: Why the US leaving NATO is real and how Europe is responding