Trump was asked whether Washington plans to withdraw from NATO
Asked whether Washington plans to withdraw from NATO, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said, "That's not what we're discussing here." The official made the statement while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, Sky News reports.
Hegseth said it was "very encouraging" to hear allies say they need to spend more on defense. The Trump administration has consistently advocated for this spending to increase to 5% in all NATO member countries.
The journalist asked the head of the Pentagon whether the United States was considering withdrawing from NATO if it felt that the allies were not being active enough.
"That's not what we're here [at the ministerial meeting] to discuss," the US Defense Secretary replied.
He added that the Alliance was "sleepwalking into irrelevance", and said that countries thanked Trump for "reviving" NATO.
- On May 30, Reuters sources reported that the American president had changed his mind about transferring command of NATO's Joint Forces in Europe to Europeans and had already decided on a candidate for a new commander-in-chief.
- On June 4, the US Secretary of Defense did not participate in the Ramstein format meeting for the first time. At the same time, Washington was represented at the level of Ambassador to NATO Whitaker. However, the United States did not announce new military assistance.
