President Donald Trump thinks Nato should be expanded to include nations in the Middle East, suggesting the 70-year-old alliance rebrand as “Natome”.
The US President praised himself for being "good at names" after suggesting the new monkier - pronounced "Nay-toe-me" - as a shortened version of Nato-Middle East.
“What a beautiful name — Natome,” Mr Trump said.
Speaking to reporters at the White House during an unrelated event, Mr Trump said the US had cracked down on so-called Islamic State militants, eliminating their control of territory and killing IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“We did Europe a big favour,” he said.
“I think Nato should be expanded and we should include the Middle East, absolutely. … Right now the burden is on us and that’s not fair,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump said he also wants to see more Nato troops in the Middle East because problems there are international in scope.
He said he spoke about Nato’s role on Wednesday during a phone call with Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg.
“I think he was actually excited about it. I actually had a name. Nato, right, and then you have ME, Middle East. They would call it Natome,” Mr Trump said.
“I’m good at names, right,” he said and noted how the new North American trade agreement is called USMCA for the US, Mexico and Canada.
