The United States is still active within NATO and has no intention of withdrawing from the Alliance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday morning at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
However, the US Secretary of State emphasised that for this to happen, the organisation must strengthen itself. President Donald Trump is "not against NATO, but against an Alliance that does not have the necessary capabilities" to be viable.
Rubio once again called on NATO's European members to increase their defence spending to 5% of their GDP. "We understand that this involves compromises. We also have to face up to this; we have domestic problems too. But we are prioritising defence."
Washington is still a reliable ally within NATO, the Secretary General of the Alliance, Mark Rutte, confirmed at the opening of the meeting. The US is not going to "all of a sudden draw down their presence here in Europe," he said.
Washington is in fact devoting an increasing amount of attention to the geopolitical situation in Asia and the Indo-Pacific region, which will be the subject of discussions during the two-day meeting.
While Rutte maintains the US is committed, he adds that it expects Europe to match its spending. "And that is what is happening right now. This is probably the biggest increase in defence spending since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But we must do more, and that will be on the agenda today," said Rutte.
