US Secretary of Defense Pit Hegset again confirmed the commitment of the Donald Trump administration to the North Atlantic Alliance, while insisting on the need to increase defense expenses from other NATO member countries.
Speaking at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte before meeting the Alliance Defense Ministers at the headquarters in Brussels, Highset emphasized: “It is not easy to be a leader, especially with such a variety of views, but all participants share a general understanding and commitment to collective defense.”
According to him, no one did more to modernize and strengthen NATO than President Donald Trump: “I am here in order to convey to each country of NATO that it is necessary to contribute to the level of at least 5 percent of GDP – as a sign of recognition of the real threats that we are faced with.”
The United States is proud of its role in the alliance, but our message continues to be extremely clear. Containing and peace through force is correct, but this cannot be achieved, relying exclusively on the USA, ”he said.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in turn, confirmed that from the first day the American administration clearly designated its vision and expectation.
“Today we have an important meeting, since we agree on the goals for the development of the capabilities necessary to ensure the safety of one billion people living in the territory of NATO countries,” he said.
According to Rutte, at the NATO summit, which will be held in the Hague on June 24-25, a new target bar for defense costs will be adopted.
“We already understand that it will be necessary to significantly increase investments in order to achieve these goals. By the way, this will help to align the level of expenses between Europe, Canada and the United States. The USA is completely committed to NATO, but at the same time rightly expect that European and Canadian allies will also take on a large share of responsibility,” he said.
Rutte expressed confidence that the summit will be reached in the key areas of development of the military capabilities of the Alliance – including in the field of air defense, mobile ground forces, high -range missiles, as well as modern command and management systems.