Momentum is building among some Republicans and SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk to withdraw the U.S. from NATO amid stalled negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. 

While President Donald Trump reportedly privately floated pulling the U.S. from the alliance during his first term, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has publicly backed such efforts in recent weeks and said it’s ‘time to leave’ the alliance after NATO countries held an emergency meeting with Ukraine in London without the U.S.

Lee said in an X post on Sunday that if ‘NATO is moving on without the U.S.,’ the U.S. should ‘move on from NATO.’ Lee also suggested various names for the movement on Monday.

‘What should we call the movement to get America out of NATO? AmerExit? NATexit?’ Lee said in an X post on Monday, referencing Brexit, the term used to describe the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union.

‘It’s a good thing our NATO allies give us such favorable trade terms based on the fact that we provide a disproportionate share of their security needs Oh wait ….They don’t,’ Lee said in another Monday post on X. 

Lee isn’t the only lawmaker expressing such sentiments. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Sunday in a post on X that ‘NATO is a Cold War relic that needs to be relegated to a talking kiosk at the Smithsonian.’ 

The lawmakers’ comments also come after Musk, who is heading up the Trump administration’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also shared support for withdrawing from NATO Saturday. Musk said ‘I agree’ in a post on X, in response to another post claiming it’s time for the U.S. to detach itself from NATO and the United Nations. 

The push to pull out of NATO coincides with stalled negotiations to end the war in Ukraine as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sought for Ukraine to become a NATO member after Russia invaded his country in 2022. But Trump kicked Zelenskyy out of the White House on Friday after meeting to secure a deal, saying Zelenskyy was welcome back when he was ready for peace. 

Pulling the U.S. from NATO would require Congressional approval. A bipartisan provision included in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Bill requires that the executive branch would need support from 60 senators, or passage of legislation in Congress, to pull out of the alliance. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is now Trump’s Secretary of State, spearheaded the provision. 

Scott Anderson, a fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution think tank, said the provision paves the way for a legal battle should the executive branch attempt to unilaterally withdraw the U.S. from the alliance. 

‘The logic is, essentially, you’re teeing up a fight if the president tries to do this without Congress … it specifically does enact exactly that sort of prohibition and says, essentially, we’re going to litigate this out and take it to the Supreme Court if you try and do this, which is the most Congress can do,’ Anderson told Fox News Digital.  

Even so, Anderson noted that it’s not completely clear who would have legal standing to challenge an effort to withdraw from NATO, although Anderson said service members or people who own property in NATO countries are some who could arguably have standing and challenge the move. 

Most Americans maintain a favorable opinion of NATO, although support has dropped slightly in recent years. Fifty-eight percent of Americans hold a favorable view of the military alliance, according to a survey the Pew Research Center released in May 2024. However, that’s four percentage points from the previous year, the survey said. 

Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth urged NATO allies to beef up defense contributions to the alliance in February. 

‘NATO should pursue these goals as well,’ Hegseth told NATO members in Brussels in February. ‘NATO is a great alliance, the most successful defense alliance in history, but to endure for the future, our partners must do far more for Europe’s defense.’  

‘We must make NATO great again,’ he said. 

As of 2023, the U.S. spent 3.3% of its GDP on defense spending, amounting to $880 billion, according to the nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. More than 50% of NATO funding comes from the U.S., while other allies, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, have contributed between 4% and 8% to NATO funding in recent years. 

Hegseth urged European allies to bolster defense spending from 2% to 5% of gross domestic product, as Trump has long advocated. 

NATO comprises more than 30 countries and was originally formed in 1949 to halt the spread of the Soviet Union.

The White House announced Monday that China will face increased tariffs, citing the ongoing fentanyl crisis in the U.S. as the main reason for the decision.

In a post on X, the Rapid Response 47 account shared the text of an executive order (EO) signed by President Donald Trump on Monday. The Chinese government will now face 20% tariffs ‘over their failure to address the fentanyl pouring into our country,’ the EO stated.

The tariffs against China, which were originally only 10%, will go into effect on Tuesday. In Monday’s order, Trump said that the Chinese government has failed ‘to blunt the sustained influx of synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, flowing from [their country],’ and that such failure constitutes an ‘unusual and extraordinary threat.’

Trump also said that the crisis jeopardizes the ‘national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.’

‘I have determined that the [People’s Republic of China] has not taken adequate steps to alleviate the illicit drug crisis through cooperative enforcement actions, and that the crisis described in Executive Order 14195 has not abated,’ the order read. 

‘In recognition of the fact that the PRC has not taken adequate steps to alleviate the illicit drug crisis, section 2(a) of Executive Order 14195 is hereby amended by striking the words ‘10 percent’ and inserting in lieu thereof the words ‘20 percent’.’

The Trump administration is already imposing 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, which were announced last month and will also go into effect on Tuesday. On Monday, Peter Navarro, the White House senior counselor on trade and manufacturing, defended the tariffs to CNBC and argued that the issue ‘starts in communist China with the precursor chemicals.’

‘It comes into Mexico, and they make the fentanyl. But they also have these pill presses. So they do the counterfeits,’ Navarro explained. ‘And they’re using Canada as a transit hub and secondary point to manufacture as well. So this is a Canada-Mexico-China thing.’

The Chinese government has opposed the tariffs since they were announced. In a Feb. 1 statement, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that China is ‘one of the world’s toughest countries on counternarcotics both in terms of policy and its implementation.’

‘Additional tariffs are not constructive and bound to affect and harm the counternarcotics cooperation between the two sides in the future,’ the statement read. ‘China calls on the U.S. to correct its wrongdoings, maintain the hard-won positive dynamics in the counternarcotics cooperation, and promote the steady, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. relationship.’

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

The ‘Renewal of the American Dream’ is the theme of President Donald Trump’s first address of his second term to a joint session of Congress, Fox News Digital has learned. 

White House officials exclusively told Fox News Digital that the speech, themed ‘The Renewal of the American Dream,’ will feature four main sections: accomplishments from Trump’s second term thus far at home and abroad; what the Trump administration has done for the economy; the president’s renewed push for Congress to pass additional funding for border security; and the president’s plans for peace around the globe.

Trump’s joint address ‘will be must-see TV,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital. 

‘President Trump has accomplished more in one month than any president in four years, and the renewal of the American Dream is well underway,’ Leavitt said ‘In his joint address to Congress, President Trump will celebrate his extraordinarily successful first month in office while outlining his bold, ambitious and commonsense vision for the future.’ 

The president will review his administration’s ‘accomplishments from his extraordinarily successful first month in office, both here at home and abroad,’ White House officials told Fox News Digital. 

Officials said the president will also discuss what his administration has done and continues to do to ‘fix the economic mess created by the Biden administration and end inflation for all Americans.’ 

The president is expected to highlight the more than $1.7 trillion in investments made since he took the oath of office to bring manufacturing back to the United States, including increases in energy production, investments in the private sector on AI and more. 

Also in the address, the president will push Congress to pass more border security funding to fund deportations and the continued construction of the border wall along the U.S. southern border. 

On foreign policy, the president is expected to outline his plans ‘to restore peace around the world.’ A White House official told Fox News Digital that Trump will lay out his plans to end the war in Ukraine. He will also focus on the work of his administration to ensure the release of all hostages from Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The president posted on his Truth Social account Monday morning teasing his address, saying, ‘Tomorrow night will be big. I will tell it like it is!’ 

When asked for comment on the president’s post, a White House official told Fox News Digital, ‘As always, President Trump will keep it real and speak the truth.’

The president is scheduled to speak before all members of Congress on Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST

The speech is not officially called the ‘State of the Union,’ as Trump has not been in office for a full year, though it operates in a similar fashion. The yearly presidential address is intended to showcase the administration’s achievements and policies. 

Failed 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate and current Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz recently floated a potential 2028 presidential run, garnering mockery online as critics sarcastically implored him to throw his hat in the ring.

Laughing emojis and comments such as ‘Need a morning chuckle’ or ‘Yes please’ were splashed across conservative social media accounts after Walz floated a potential 2028 presidential run during a recent conversation with the New Yorker.

Walz ran alongside former Vice President Kamala Harris on the Democrats’ 2024 ticket in the waning months of the election cycle after former President Joe Biden dropped out of the race amid mounting concern over his mental acuity and age.

Walz demurred at first when asked if he would run for president during the New Yorker interview published Sunday, before saying he would run if the opportunity presented itself. 

‘Well, I had a friend tell me, ‘Never turn down a job you haven’t been offered,’’ Walz said when asked if he would run for president. 

‘If I think I could offer something … I would certainly consider that,’ he said. ‘I’m also, though, not arrogant enough to believe there’s a lot of people that can do this.’

He said that under the correct circumstances and if he has the right ‘skill set’ for the 2028 race, ‘I’ll do it.’

‘You might do it?’ the New Yorker asked. 

‘I’ll do whatever it takes,’ Walz said. ‘I certainly wouldn’t be arrogant enough to think that it needs to be me.’

‘I’ve always said this: I didn’t prepare my life to be in these jobs, but my life prepared me well,’ he said. ‘And, if this experience I’ve had and what we’re going through right now prepares me for that, then I would. But I worry about people who have ambition for elected office. I don’t think you should have ambition. I think you should have a desire to do it if you’re asked to serve. And that’s kind of where I’m at.’ 

Social media critics had a field day on X over the remarks, resurrecting the ‘Tampon Tim’ moniker, mocking the prospect of a Walz presidency, while encouraging him to make a run official. 

‘Tampon Tim’ was a nickname used by conservatives during the election cycle that mocked Walz’ Minnesota policies that provide menstrual products ‘to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students,’ as opposed to stating the products were intended for female students. 

After Biden’s exit from the 2024 race in July, Harris simultaneously launched her campaign as well as her search for a running mate, combing through a list of high-profile Democrats and lesser-known allies before choosing Walz.

Following the Democratic ticket’s loss, political strategists and insiders launched post-mortems on the campaign, with a handful pointing to Harris’ selection of Walz as her running mate as opposed to another candidate, such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is popular in the key battleground state that ultimately voted for President Donald Trump.

Walz added in his conversation with the New Yorker that he and Harris ended the campaign cycle on good terms, but that he has only spoken to the former vice president a handful of times since November 2024. 

‘I’m doing my job, and she’s doing her job, and she’s out in California, I believe, living, and I’m here in beautiful Minnesota, where the weather’s always great,’ he said.

‘Well, maybe she doesn’t want to talk to me after we got this thing done,’ Walz said while laughing when asked why they don’t speak more frequently. ‘No, I think it’s just there’ll be a time and a place. But we left good, and my family misses her. My daughter, especially.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for any additional comment on a potential presidential run or response to social media critics, but did not immediately receive a reply.

President Donald Trump said he would reveal the future of a rare-earth minerals deal with Ukraine Tuesday during his address to Congress, after peace negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to a halt Friday after a disorderly White House visit. 

Zelenskyy visited Washington Friday amid negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, and was poised to sign a minerals agreement that would allow the U.S. access to Ukraine’s minerals in exchange for U.S. support in the country. 

But after a tense exchange between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelenskyy over whether diplomacy was the correct avenue to secure a peace deal and whether Russian President Vladimir Putin could be trusted, Trump kicked Zelenskyy out of the White House and said the Ukrainian leader could return when he was ready for peace. 

When asked Monday about the status of the rare-earth minerals deal, Trump told reporters that he would disclose where the deal stands when he addresses a joint session of Congress Tuesday in a speech akin to the annual State of the Union. 

‘I’ll let you know,’ Trump told reporters Monday. ‘We’re making a speech, you’ve probably heard about it, tomorrow night. I’ll let you know tomorrow night… it’s a great deal for us.’

Zelenskyy told reporters in London Sunday that he was still on board with the deal, and that he predicts the relationship between Ukraine and the U.S. will persevere. 

Trump also said Monday he wanted to see the Ukrainian leader express more gratitude for U.S. support during the war in order to rekindle peace negotiations with Zelenskyy. 

‘I just think he should be more appreciative because this country has stuck with him through thick and thin,’ Trump said. ‘We’ve given them much more than Europe, and Europe should have given more than us because, as you know, that’s right there, that’s the border.’ 

Trump previously hailed the minerals agreement as a breakthrough deal that would benefit both the U.S. and Ukraine, touting that it would serve as the foundation for a more ‘sustainable’ future relationship between the two countries and allow the U.S. access to resources like oil and gas that ‘we need for our country.’ 

‘We’re going to be signing really a very important agreement for both sides, because it’s really going to get us into that country,’ Trump told reporters Thursday while meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. ‘We’ll have a lot of people working there and so, in that sense, it’s very good.’

Trump also said Thursday it would reimburse taxpayers for financial contributions backing Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in 2022. 

Precise numbers on financial assistance to Ukraine vary slightly, depending on what is considered aid. However, the Council on Foreign Relations reports that Congress has appropriated $175 billion since 2022 for aid to Ukraine. 

All European assistance to Ukraine between January 2022 and December 2024 amounts to roughly $138.7 billion, German-based think tank Kiel Institute estimates. The organization also estimates that the U.S. contributed $119.7 billion in that same time frame. 

The meeting between Trump, Vance and Zelenskyy soured after Zelenskyy said that Putin couldn’t be trusted and had breached other agreements. Trump and Vance then accused Zelenskyy of not being grateful for the support the U.S. has provided over the years and said the Ukrainian leader was in a ‘bad position’ at the negotiating table. 

‘You’re playing cards,’ Trump said Friday. ‘You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. You’re gambling with World War III. And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country.’

Following his departure from the White House on Friday, Zelenskyy issued a social media post on X expressing gratitude to the U.S. for its support. 

‘Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit,’ Zelenskyy said. ‘Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.’

Conservatives on social media praised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday after he responded to an attack from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with a photo that was seen over 2 million times on X.

‘Wouldn’t want to hurt Putin’s feelings,’ Clinton posted on X over the weekend along with a Gizmodo headline that read, ‘Trump’s Defense Secretary Hegseth Orders Cyber Command to ‘Stand Down’ on All Russia Operations.’

Hegseth responded to the post with a photo of Clinton smiling with Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov in March 2009 in which the two are holding a ‘reset’ button that was meant to symbolize a reset of relations between the two countries. 

The post was quickly praised by conservatives on X.

‘Crooked Hillary just got OWNED,’ Department of Defense Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson posted on X.

‘Call an ambulance …,’ Rasmussen Reports posted on X.

‘LOL,’ conservative commentator Jack Posobiec posted on X.

‘Total Secretary Hegseth W,’ Greg Price of the Trump White House Rapid Response Team posted on X.

Hegseth’s post was reposted over 10,000 times on X with over 3,000 comments and over 70,000 likes.

Fox News Digital reached out to Clinton’s office for comment.

Democrats have been highly critical of the Trump administration in recent days and attacked the president as being aligned with Russia based on the heated Oval Office exchange between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on Friday.

The Trump administration has maintained that the controversy shows Zelenskyy is not serious about peace talks, and Trump has publicly said the Ukrainian president can return to the White House at a later time to resume negotiations.

‘We should spend less time worrying about Putin, and more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers, and people from mental institutions entering our Country – So that we don’t end up like Europe!’ Trump recently posted on Truth Social over the weekend. 

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has made border security a cornerstone issue of his tenure in the House of Representatives, a theme he’s continuing through President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

Fox News Digital has learned that Johnson’s partial list of guests to the prime-time speech will include Tom Homan, the former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, who Trump has tapped to serve as his border czar.

Johnson also invited Olivia Hayes, a young widow from his district who lives in Kinder, Louisiana. Her husband, Wesley Hayes, was killed by an illegal immigrant in a drunken-driving incident, the speaker’s office said.

On another Republican priority front, Commonwealth LNG Chair Ben Dell will also be one of Johnson’s guests on Tuesday night.

The Commonwealth LNG project was the first major beneficiary of the Trump administration’s reversal of former President Joe Biden’s pause on new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits. Energy has been a top issue for Republicans, particularly in resource-rich areas like Louisiana.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright last month announced the permit for the project, which is also in Johnson’s home state of Louisiana.

Wright said at the time that it was ‘one of many steps that DOE will be taking to assure our future as a reliable energy supplier to the world and resume regular order to our regulatory responsibilities over natural gas exports.’

In a nod to U.S. ties to Israel, Johnson is also bringing Noa Argamani, who was taken hostage by Hamas after the terror group’s brutal Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

His guests will also include members of conservative media. Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh, both of the Daily Wire, are expected to attend as Johnson’s guests.

Johnson is expected to sit on the dais behind Trump on Tuesday night, the speaker of the House’s traditional position, beside the vice president during the president’s big annual speech.

Because Trump has not been president for the entire past year, the speech is not called a ‘State of the Union’ but rather a presidential address.