The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
The US is the leading power in the world鈥檚 most powerful alliance.
The USA has been a prominent member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) since it was established in 1949. NATO is the largest and most powerful military alliance in the world. Standing united, the keystone of NATO defence is an attack on one member country is an attack on them all. As of 2024, NATO had 31 member states with Finland joining in 2023.
In theory, NATO is made up of members of equal standing, where each country has one vote in decision-making. In reality, the USA is the dominant country. The US contributes more troops, resources, and finances in total terms than any other single member of the alliance. As a result, it is the country most able to set the NATO agenda. For example, the USA was the country which kept the pressure up on its European partners to look to expand the NATO alliance eastwards.
The US has also tried for many years to encourage the other members of NATO to take a greater responsibility for their own defence and to make a larger contribution to NATO's finances. The target defence spend for NATO members is 2% of GDP. When Donald Trump was US President, he repeatedly called on European leaders to commit more funding to defence spending, threatening to pull the US out of NATO in 2020. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, most European NATO member countries have increased their spending on defence.
President Biden has worked to ensure that the NATO alliance remains united, especially in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine. The US also needs NATO as it allows the US to confront difficult and diverse threats to its security alongside other countries which support democratic values. As part of NATO the US is stronger.
The USA and Ukraine
The 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has become the biggest international issue for the USA.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, so the alliance is not obliged to come to its defence. However, it is a partner
country - there is an understanding it will join at some point in the future.
Some NATO nations have been sending weapons to Ukraine to help it defend itself against Russia. By January 2024, the US alone had given Ukraine more than $75 billion in assistance which includes humanitarian, financial and military support.
The US and many other nations have also worked to impose sanctions on President Putin, his associates and Russia. In late 2023, the US proposed a plan to confiscate $300 billion of Russian assets.
Standing steadfastly alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2023 in Lithuania, President Biden stated that once the war was over, Ukraine鈥檚 long-term future lay inside NATO.
The US and other NATO members face difficult decisions over how much to support Ukraine going forward while not wishing for their armed forces to come into direct conflict with Russia.
Within the US, further military and financial aid to Ukraine has been held up by Republican politicians opposed to Democrat President Biden鈥檚 plans. On the campaign trail looking to return to the presidency, Donald Trump has stated he could end the war in 24 hours which could mean stopping US support to Ukraine.