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A claim that President Donald Trump once paid for a newspaper ad that criticized United States foreign policy resurfaced online in late February and early March 2025 on the heels of Trump’s return to the Oval Office.
The alleged ad consisted of an “open letter” written by Trump proclaiming that the U.S. was wasting money protecting allies who “can afford to defend themselves.”
While the claim regained popularity in early 2025, the same image of the purported ad has circulated online since at least 2015, when BuzzFeed News reported on it during Trump’s first presidential campaign.
Since then, it’s surfaced across social media, from Reddit to Threads (archived), with users pointing out its parallels to Trump’s approach to foreign relations during his second term in office, as well as the unproven conspiracy theory that Trump was recruited by the Soviet Union’s intelligence agency, the KGB, in 1987.
1987 full-page ad in the New York Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe
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The claim that Trump paid to run an open letter criticizing America’s foreign policy is true. The paid advertisement ran in the Sept. 2, 1987, editions of The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe.
Digital archives show the ad running on Page A28 of The New York Times and page 48 of The Boston Globe. The Washington Post also included a short piece by Howard Kurz titled “Between the lines of a millionaire’s ad,” which read in part:
Donald J. Trump, the multimillionaire developer who has gotten into some well-publicized spats with city officials here, is using his cash to wade into the more exotic waters of foreign policy.
In full-page advertisements running Wednesday in The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Boston Globe, Trump argues that the United States should present Western Europe and Japan with a bill for America’s efforts to safeguard the passage of oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.
When a prominent private person spends $94,801 to publicize such a message, it raises the age-old question: What’s he running for?
(The New York Times)
The price of the ad was corroborated at the time by a report from The Associated Press crediting Trump spokesperson Daniel Klores.
The AP also wrote, “Trump’s name has been mentioned for various public offices, including mayor of New York City, governor and the presidency. Asked if Trump’s letter had anything to do with political aspirations, Klores said, ‘Right now Donald Trump has no ambition to seek political office of any kind.'”
The price of the ad was further corroborated by Charlie Laderman and Brendan Simms’ 2017 book “Donald Trump: The Making of a World View.”
An excerpt from the book reads:
Like so many Americans of his generation, Trump’s world view was shaped by the trauma of the hostage crisis and the sense of US decline in the late 1970s and 1980s. He also shared the widespread sense that America’s allies were not pulling their weight, in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and that these “friends” were taking unfair advantage of the United States with respect to trade. In September 1987, Trump paid almost $95,000 to take out a full-page newspaper advertisement that ran in the New York Times and several other outlets to air his grievances with America’s leaders and its allies. The advert was an open letter to the American people that criticised successive US governments for “paying to defend countries that can afford to defend themselves.” Already famous in the US and around the world as a multi-millionaire real estate developer, this letter was the opening gambit in Trump’s first flirtation with running for high office.
Trump’s 1987 manifesto on foreign policy resurfaced in the wake of Trump’s contentious meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which sparked concerns over Trump’s history with Russia and the United States’ overall commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an alliance formed between North American and European countries in the aftermath of World War II.
However, Trump’s pick for NATO ambassador, Matt Whitaker, said in March 2025 that the U.S. commitment to NATO will be “ironclad,” according to AP.
Here is the full text of Trump’s 1987 open letter:
There’s nothing wrong with America’s Foreign Defense Policy that a little backbone can’t cure.
An open letter from Donald J. Trump on why America should stop paying to defend countries that can afford to defend themselves.
To The American People:
For decades, Japan and other nations have been taking advantage of the United States.
The saga continues unabated as we defend the Persian Gulf, an area of only marginal significance to the United States for its oil supplies, but one upon which Japan and others are almost totally dependent. Why are these nations not paying the United States for the human lives and billions of dollars we are losing to protect their interests? Saudi Arabia, a country whose very existence is in the hands of the United States, last week refused to allow us to use their mine sweepers (which are, sadly, far more advanced than ours) to police the Gulf. The world is laughing at America’s politicians as we protect ships we don’t own, carrying oil we don’t need, destined for allies who won’t help.
Over the years, the Japanese, unimpeded by the huge costs of defending themselves (as long as the United States will do it for free), have built a strong and vibrant economy with unprecedented surpluses. They have brilliantly managed to maintain a weak yen against a strong dollar. This, coupled with out monumental spending for their, and others, defense, has moved Japan to the forefront of world economies.
Now that the tides are turning and the yen is becoming strong against the dollar, the Japanese are openly complaining and, in typical fashion, our politicians are reacting to these unjustified complaints.
It’s time for us to end our vast deficits by making Japan, and others who can afford it, pay. Our world protection is worth hundreds of billions of dollars to these countries, and their stake in their protection is far greater than ours.
Make Japan, Saudi Arabia, and others pay for the protection we extend as allies. Let’s help our farmers, our sick, our homeless by taking from some of the greatest profit machines ever created — machines created and nurtured by us. “Tax” these wealthy nations, not America. End our huge deficits, reduce our taxes, and let America’s economy grow unencumbered by the cost of defending those who can easily afford to pay us for the defense of their freedom. Let’s not let our great country be laughed at anymore.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Trump
AP Explains: What Happened in the Oval Office between Trump and Zelenskyy. apnews.com, https://apnews.com/video/ap-explains-what-happened-in-the-oval-office-between-trump-and-zelenskyy-adeb0a4b43dc41b59572c00c9c855174. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.
“AP News.” AP News, https://apnews.com/article/05133dbe63ace98766527ec7d16ede08. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.
Ben-Meir, Ilan. “That Time Trump Spent Nearly $100,000 On An Ad Criticizing U.S. Foreign Policy In 1987.” BuzzFeed News, 10 July 2015, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ilanbenmeir/that-time-trump-spent-nearly-100000-on-an-ad-criticizing-us.
“How Trump’s History with Russia and Ukraine Set the Stage for a Blowup with Zelenskyy.” AP News, 3 Mar. 2025, https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-ukraine-fbi-mueller-ff6d60923de68632f2671e275083b54b.
Howard Kurz. “Between the Lines of a Millionaire’s Ad.” The Washington Post, The Washington Post, 1 Sept. 1987, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/09/02/between-the-lines-of-a-millionaires-ad/9c6db9c3-f7d6-4aa4-9ec4-a312feb2639e/.
Laderman, Charlie, and Brendan Simms. Donald Trump: The Making of a World View. Revised edition, Tauris, 2017.
“TimesMachine: Wednesday September 2, 1987 – NYTimes.Com.” The New York Times. TimesMachine, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1987/09/02/issue.html. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.
“Trump Boston Globe Open Letter Backbone Policy.” The Boston Globe, 2 Sept. 1987, p. 48. newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-trump-boston-globe-open/110361819/.
“Trump Chooses Former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker as NATO Ambassador.” AP News, 20 Nov. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/trump-whitaker-transition-appointment-nato-attorney-general-a09b1214770b86aff85d5ecffaf63a52.
“Trump’s Pick as NATO Ambassador Says US Commitment to the Alliance Is ‘Ironclad.'” AP News, 4 Mar. 2025, https://apnews.com/article/matt-whitaker-trump-ukraine-nato-bf4cca9c12e5427d1b6c2d83a13209ce.
Joey Esposito has written for a variety of entertainment publications. He’s into music, video games … and birds.
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Yes, Trump paid for full-page newspaper ad criticizing US foreign policy in 1987 – Snopes.com
