Rubio says the US will stay in NATO
3 April 15:53
The United States remains in NATO, but it wants to see the Alliance become stronger.
This was stated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Brussels, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
“The United States is more active than ever in NATO. And this hysteria and exaggeration that I see in the global media and some domestic media in the United States about NATO is unjustified,” he said.
According to him, US President Donald Trump has “made it clear” that he supports NATO and that the country plans to remain in the Alliance.
At the same time, Washington wants NATO to be stronger and “more viable.” In particular, it is about increasing the capabilities of member states. Rubio reiterated the U.S. position that NATO members should commit to raising their defense spending to 5% of GDP.
NATO Defense Spending
The target in the Alliance is 2% of GDP. A number of NATO members find it difficult to maintain a higher percentage (especially those who reached 2% ten years after the target was set). For example, Italy is among the countries that have not reached this target, spending about 1.5% of GDP on defense.
US President Donald Trump has called on NATO countries to increase defense spending to 5% of their gross domestic product.
Lithuania and Estonia have already pledged to spend more than 5% of their GDP on defense in an effort to dramatically increase their military capabilities. And Poland, which has called on other European countries to follow suit, has pledged to reach 4.7% of GDP this year, the highest figure in NATO so far.
