Rutte retains faith in transatlantic bond ahead of NATO summit
The raft of import duties announced by US president Donald Trump will not have a negative impact on the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting on Thursday and Friday, secretary general Mark Rutte said on arrival at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.
The American secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is taking part in the meeting for the first time, and Rutte expects the allies to give him a “very positive” welcome.
“The focus of all 32 [member states] here is on how NATO territory should be defended against the Russians, our long-term threat,” he said, adding that the US was still a reliable ally.
The US has been asking its European NATO partners to increase their military spending for some time, with president Donald Trump proposing 5 per cent of GDP as a target.
There is consensus on increasing spending in the EU, but 5 per cent is considered unrealistic. Rutte said on Thursday that the new goal should be “higher than 3 per cent”.
“We literally see hundreds of billions of euros rolling in,” he said. “This is probably the biggest increase in defence spending here on the European side of NATO since the end of the Cold War. But we still need more.”
Ahead of the meeting of ministers, Rubio criticised the “hysteria” in the international and American media about the US commitment to NATO. He said Trump had made it clear that the US would remain in the alliance.
“We want NATO to become stronger,” he said. “The United States will also have to increase its defence spending.” According to NATO statistics, the US spends approximately 3.4 per cent of GDP on defence.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio and NATO secretary general Mark Rutte ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, 3 April 2025 © PHOTO JACQUELYN MARTIN / POOL / AFP
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