US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reassured NATO member states that Washington remains committed to the military bloc, while insisting that members must drastically increase spending on their militaries.
Rubio made the remarks at NATO’s foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump had previously threatened to leave NATO if bloc members failed to increase their military spending. He has called for a huge hike to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) from the current 2% benchmark only reached by 23 of its 32 members in 2024.
“The United States is in NATO ... The United States is as active in NATO as it has ever been,” Rubio told reporters, dismissing doubts about that commitment as “hysteria.”