The US Secretary of State Rubio stated that President Trump has clearly expressed his support for NATO by saying “We will stay in NATO.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made remarks to the press at the beginning of the two-day NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in the capital of Belgium, Brussels. Highlighting his country’s commitment to NATO, Rubio said he expected European allies to commit to increasing defense spending to 5% of their gross domestic product (GDP).

“US MORE ACTIVE THAN EVER IN NATO” Expressing his pleasure at attending a NATO meeting for the first time, the US Secretary of State said, “The US is more active in NATO than ever. Some of the hysteria and exaggerations I have seen in the global and some local US media about NATO are baseless. President (Donald) Trump has clearly supported NATO. We will stay in NATO.” Rubio stated that the US wants NATO to be stronger, saying, “We want NATO to be more vibrant. The only way for NATO to be stronger and more vibrant is for our partners, the nation-states that make up this important alliance, to have more capabilities.” NATO consists of advanced economies and wealthy countries, Rubio said, “I assure you that we also have domestic needs but we prioritize defense because of the role we play in the world. We want our partners to do the same.”

“WARS IN EUROPE REMIND US OF THE NEED FOR HARD POWER” The US Secretary of State Rubio continued, “After establishing broad social safety nets for decades, maybe there are internal policies that do not want to give up on this and invest more in national security. There is a full-scale ground war in the heart of Europe that reminds us that hard power is still necessary as a deterrent. Therefore, I want to leave here understanding that we are on a realistic path to each member committing and fulfilling their spending of 5% of GDP.”

“TRUMP IS NOT AGAINST NATO”

Rubio said that the 5% target includes the US and clarified, “(Trump) is not against NATO. He is against NATO not having the capabilities it needs to fulfill the obligations imposed on each member state by the treaty.” Evaluating that “no one expects us to achieve this in one or two years, but the path must be realistic,” Rubio stated:

“So, I hope to address this issue in the meetings we will have today. Of course, we are happy to have our Asia-Pacific partners, who have become great partners for the Alliance, join us. We see increasing threats to both freedom of navigation and territorial integrity in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, we look forward to interacting with them as well.”