By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-04-03 11:41:03 | Updated at 2025-04-04 06:23:45
18 hours ago
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told nervous Nato members on Thursday that Washington remained committed to the alliance, but said they must agree to massively ramp up their spending targets for defence.
US President Donald Trump has rattled Europe by casting doubt on his willingness to defend all allies, and by reaching out to Russia over the war in Ukraine – before further raising tensions with his latest trade tariffs.
“Some of this hysteria and hyperbole that I see in the global media and some domestic media in the United States about Nato is unwarranted,” Rubio said on his first visit to meet his Nato counterparts in Brussels.
“President Trump’s made clear he supports Nato. We’re going to remain in Nato,” he said.
Ahead of Nato’s June summit in The Hague, Trump has demanded that the alliance more than double its current spending target to five per cent of GDP – more than any, including Washington, spend now.
“We do want to leave here with an understanding that we are on a pathway, a realistic pathway to every single one of the members committing and fulfilling a promise to reach up to five per cent spending, and that includes the United States,” Rubio said.
