This time, his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who calls himself a former supporter of the alliance, has also chimed in.

“I think there’s no doubt, unfortunately, after this conflict is concluded we are going to have to re-examine that relationship,” he told Fox News.

Referring to US bases in Europe he said not using them “to defend America’s interests” meant “Nato is a one-way street.”

Britain initially refused access to US warplanes but later changed tack, saying bases could be used for “defensive operations.” That delay continues to be derided by Trump and his secretary of defence, the self-styled Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth. They’ve repeatedly taunted Prime Minister Starmer as being “no Churchill” – a reference to Britain’s leader during the Second World War.

On Tuesday, Italy denied US aircraft permission to land as they were en route to the Middle East for combat operations. Spain has closed its airspace to US planes conducting missions against Iran.

Rubio added it was “ultimately” up to the President to decide this issue.

But it’s not his alone.

The US Congress voted at the end of 2023 to prohibit the president from unilaterally withdrawing from Nato without the approval of a two-thirds Senate majority or an act of Congress.

Nato leaders, and most of all its current secretary general Mark Rutte, will need to spend time again when he visits Washington next week trying to convince and cajole Trump that it’s in his interest, and America’s, to stay.

Rutte, like Stoltenberg, is called the “Trump whisperer” for his efforts in public, and private, to keep the unpredictable president on side.

Rutte, the former Dutch leader armed with his toolbox of praise, is widely seen as having played a significant role in pulling Trump back from the brink in his threats to “take” Greenland – a semi-autonomous territory of fellow Nato member Denmark – earlier this year.

But Rutte has also come under fire from other Nato states for going too far with his staunch support for a war against Iran he said Trump was doing “to make the whole world safe.”

But his top priority is keeping his 77-year-old coalition intact as it confronts growing threats in Ukraine, the Middle East – and the White House.