The US administration believes that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation should be a real defence alliance, not a pact between the United States and "a handful of junior partners", US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told The Free Press.
"NATO is good as long as it is a real defence alliance, not the United States and a handful of junior partners who are not doing their bit," he said.
"I think alliances are always good. The opportunity to enter into a defense alliance with advanced economies and advanced militaries is a force multiplier for the United States. So certainly NATO is in our interest," Rubio said.
"The question is what NATO is involved. It must be a NATO in which your partners carry their weight. And when you see a NATO where you have countries that are spending one percent of their GDP, then it's really not an alliance, it's a dependency."
Earlier, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said the US administration is demanding that all NATO allies reduce military spending to two percent of GDP by the next NATO summit, scheduled for this June, as stipulated by the agreements. Donald Trump has repeatedly said since taking office as President of the United States that he intends to ensure that NATO member states in Europe increase defence spending to five per cent of GDP. According to the Financial Times, NATO leaders are likely to agree to increase military budgets to more than three per cent of GDP during the June NATO summit.
Tass/gnews.cz
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