NATO chief says Trump being reelected wouldn't mean the end of the alliance, that it's stronger than in 2016

• Trump being re-elected wouldn't mean the end of NATO, the alliance's chief said.
• Jens Stoltenberg said it's "important not to create self-fulfilling prophecies."
• Stoltenberg said leaders would need to engage with Trump like they did in 2016.

The head of NATO said former President Donald Trump being reelected wouldn't mean the end of the military alliance.

Instead, Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance is still together despite the same concerns that existed when Trump was elected president in 2016.

"I think it's important not to create self-fulfilling prophecies in a way that assuming that a new administration in the United States will mean the end of NATO," the secretary-general told The Guardian .

"There were concerns about that also in 2016. The reality was that NATO is stronger after four years," he said, pointing to more troops and a higher state of readiness.

His comments mirrored those he made earlier this month when addressing NATO leaders: "Today, we're stronger than we've ever been," he said.

Stoltenberg also told The Guardian that leaders would need to engage with Trump, just as they did when he became president in 2016, regardless of his campaign rhetoric, saying, "I worked with him for four years."

Trump frequently attacked NATO in his first election campaign and presidency and threatened to withdraw the US from the alliance.

Those criticisms have continued.

In February, Trump said he would encourage Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" to NATO countries that don't meet defense spending expectations, in a move that other world leaders reacted to with shock.

When asked whether Trump had changed since his presidency ended in 2020, Stoltenberg said he couldn't answer.

Sources recently told Politico that Trump is unlikely to quit NATO outright if reelected , but it reported that members worry that if Trump is reelected he could downplay the US' role, block aid for Ukraine, or try to strike an unpopular peace deal with Russia.

The alliance is looking at ways to Trump-proof its support for Ukraine .

Stoltenberg said the US will stay in NATO because its members make up 50% of the world's "military might."

NATO is seen as stronger than it was during Trump's presidency.

President Joe Biden said at the annual NATO summit this month that before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Russian President Vladimir Putin "thought NATO would break. Today, NATO is stronger than it's ever been in its history."

The alliance has also expanded since Trump was last in office.

Sweden and Finland are now members , with their joining motivated in part by the invasion of Ukraine and what it could mean for Europe and those two countries in particular.

Chief among Trump's complaints about the military alliance has been that many of its members don't pay its guidance figure of 2% of their GDP on defense.

But 23 member countries are now expected to meet or exceed that target, according to NATO, compared to only three in 2014.

The US also doesn't spend the highest amount of its GDP on defense, with Poland above it last year.

Some members are also pushing for the 2% figure to be even higher.

Trump has tried to take credit for the broader spending increases across NATO countries, but experts previously told Business Insider's Mia Jankowicz that this is largely down to the threat of Russia, and not the former president.