Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that NATO must be beneficial for all countries involved in the alliance.
“I know why NATO is good for Europe, but why is NATO good for America? Because it gives us bases in the region that allow us to project power during a contingency in the Middle East or somewhere else,” Rubio said, as per reports. “So, when that is the key rationale for why you’re in NATO, and then you have countries like Spain denying us the use of these bases, well then why are you in NATO?”
Rubio explained that President Trump is disappointed in “some of our NATO Allies and their response to our operations in the Middle East, they are well documented.”
Despite the disagreements between NATO countries, Rubio said the alliance still holds key areas of consensus.
“One of the areas where I think we definitely can cooperate on is the defense industrial base. It is clear to the world, to all of us in the Alliance and beyond, that we simply are not able to produce munitions today at a rate that are necessary for future needs. That’s something that has to be addressed,” he added. “That’s something that we can work together on. That’s something we want to work together on. I think it’s key not just to production but to interoperability, and so I imagine that’ll be a topic of conversation.”
Rubio’s comments mirror those he made in March, when he told reporters that the United States would revisit its relationship with NATO in the wake of tensions surrounding the ongoing conflict with Iran.
“You have this – and again, look, the President and our country will have to reexamine all of this after this operation is over,” he said. “But one of the reasons why NATO is beneficial to the United States is it gives us basing rights for contingencies. It allows us to station troops and aircraft and weapons in parts of the world that we wouldn’t normally have bases, and that includes in much of Europe. And to see that in a time of need – the United States has identified a grave risk to our national security and our national interest, and we needed to conduct this operation, and we have countries like Spain, a NATO member that we are pledged to defend, denying us the use of their airspace and bragging about it, denying us the use of our – of their bases. And there are other countries that have done that as well.”
