--- description: President Donald Trump made an abrupt about-face on NATO, saying during a press conference he no longer considers the organization obsolete title: President Trump: NATO Is 'No Longer Obsolete' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5791069b7c5669b4/6988c28a97cdffc7406b039c/gettyimages-667782898.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [russia](/tag/russia/) ## russia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # President Trump: NATO Is 'No Longer Obsolete' by [Aric Jenkins](/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 12, 2017 9:16 PM CUT  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (L) and President Donald Trump hold a news conference in the East Room of the White House on April 12, 2017 in Washington. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (L) and President Donald Trump hold a news conference in the East Room of the White House on April 12, 2017 in Washington.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Aric Jenkins](/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 12, 2017 9:16 PM CUT [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4728359/russia-donald-trump-syria-bashar-assad/ "undefined") made an abrupt about-face on NATO, saying he no longer considers the alliance obsolete. Speaking at a [joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg](http://fortune.com/2017/04/12/watch-live-president-trump-nato-press-conference/ "undefined") in Washington on Wednesday, Trump reiterated his belief that other NATO countries need to “pay what they owe” for defense spending. He had previous criticized the alliance as a whole, particularly during his campaign. “I said it was obsolete,” he said. “It’s no longer obsolete” During the wide-ranging press conference, Trump did not mince his words on Russia. “Right now, we’re not getting along with Russia at all. We may be at an all-time low in terms of relationship with Russia. “This has built for a long time,” the president added. “But we’re going to see what happens. Putin is the leader of Russia. Russia is a strong country, we’re a very, very strong country. We’re going to see how it all works out.” > [](https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/852255835963240448) Earlier on Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Tillerson divulged part of the meeting in a press conference. “I expressed the view that the current state of U.S.-Russia relations is at a low point. There is a low level of trust between the two countries,” [Tillerson said.](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/putin-meets-tillerson-moscow-n745591 "undefined") “The world’s two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this kind of relationship.” Back in the States, Trump said at the NATO conference that it would be “fantastic” if the U.S. could get along with Russia but that right now it’s a “nasty world.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4737255/donald-trump-nato-obsolete-jens-stolenberg/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4737255/donald-trump-nato-obsolete-jens-stolenberg/"},"headline":"President Trump: NATO Is 'No Longer Obsolete'","datePublished":"2017-04-12T21:16:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:22:32.105Z","description":"He also said relations with Russia have reached a new low","url":"https://time.com/4737255/donald-trump-nato-obsolete-jens-stolenberg/","keywords":["russia","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5791069b7c5669b4/6988c28a97cdffc7406b039c/gettyimages-667782898.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5791069b7c5669b4/6988c28a97cdffc7406b039c/gettyimages-667782898.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump And NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Hold Joint News Conf.","caption":"Donald Trump And NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Hold Joint News Conf.","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/russia/","name":"russia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4737255/donald-trump-nato-obsolete-jens-stolenberg/","name":"President Trump: NATO Is 'No Longer Obsolete'"}}]}] ```