On Wednesday, representatives of the North Atlantic Alliance informed Mark Rutte of his visit to the United States. NATO's secretary-general referred earlier to the words of U.S. defence Minister Pete Hegseth, who in March said that US troops stationed in Europe could not stay there "forever".
“The departure of the United States from NATO or Europe is not in the plans, the United States is there all the time,” he said.
Mark Rutte stressed that the U.S. “will decision increasingly towards Asia, which may mean that balance must be restored over time”. “Today, however, the United States is in Europe and will always have atomic and conventional weapons here,” he assured.
NATO chief on details of talks with the US
The Secretary-General explained that at a gathering of NATO Heads of Diplomacy in Brussels, allies heard a very clear message from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Washington's engagement in NATO, as well as a very clear anticipation that Europe and Canada would take greater work for common safety and increase defence spending.
In early April, Mark Rutte in an AFP interview said US president Donald Trump did not weaken his commitment to collective security, taken by all NATO members under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.
— Donald Trump is committed to NATO, he is committed to article 5. — assured NATO Secretary-General.
