On Wednesday, President Donald J. Trump was honored to welcome the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, to the White House, and reaffirm our commitment to this Alliance.
Sixty-eight years ago this month, President Harry Truman spoke at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty. In the nearly seven decades since Harry Truman spoke those words, the NATO Alliance has been the bulwark of international peace and security.
NATO allies defeated communism and liberated the captive nations of the Cold War. They secured the longest period of unbroken peace that Europe has ever known. This enduring partnership rooted out of so many different things, but our common security is always number one, and our common devotion to human dignity and freedom.
Since 1949, the NATO member states have more than doubled, increasing from 12 to 28. Earlier this week, President Trump completed several procedural steps to ratify the protocol for Montenegro’s accession to NATO following the Senate’s overwhelming and bipartisan vote of advice and consent in support of this ratification. The United States looks forward to formally welcoming Montenegro as the 29th member of the NATO Alliance.
In the coming months and years, President Trump will work closely with all of our NATO allies to enhance this partnership and to adapt to the challenges of the future.
