US committed to NATO, allies should spend more - Rubio
· RTE.ieUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NATO members that the US remained committed to the alliance, but said they must agree to massively ramp up their spending targets for defence.
President Donald Trump has rattled Europe by casting doubt on his willingness to defend all allies, and by reaching out to Russia over the war in Ukraine - before further raising tensions with his latest trade tariffs.
"Some of this hysteria and hyperbole that I see in the global media and some domestic media in the United States about NATO is unwarranted," Mr Rubio said on his first visit to meet his NATO counterparts in Brussels.
"President Trump's made clear he supports NATO. We're going to remain in NATO," he said.
Ahead of NATO's June summit in The Hague, Mr Trump has demanded that the alliance more than double its current spending target to 5% of GDP - more than any, including the US, spend now.
"We do want to leave here with an understanding that we are on a pathway, a realistic pathway to every single one of the members committing and fulfilling a promise to reach up to 5% spending, and that includes the United States," Mr Rubio said.
"No one expects you're gonna be able to do this in one year or two. But the pathway has to be real," Mr Rubio said.
He insisted that Mr Trump was "not against NATO. He is against a NATO that does not have the capabilities that it needs to fulfil the obligations."
A string of European countries have announced steep increases in military budgets.
"Great things are happening. Over the last couple of months, we literally see hundreds of billions of euros rolling in," NATO chief Mark Rutte said.
"So this is probably the biggest increase in defence spending here on the European side of NATO since the end of the Cold War," he said. "But we still need more."
As Europe grapples with the threat from Russia, the Trump administration has set the continent on edge by raising the prospect it could shift forces away to focus on other challenges like China.
Officials have said that if the US is planning a major shift away it needs to agree a clear timeline over years for Europe to fill the gaps left behind.
"There are no plans for them to all of a sudden draw down their presence here in Europe," Mr Rutte said.
"But we know that for America, being the superpower they are, they have to attend to more theatres than one. It's only logical that you have that debate."
Beyond NATO and Ukraine, Mr Trump has also rocked allies by making territorial threats against Canada and Denmark, insisting that he will take over Greenland.
Mr Rubio was set to meet his Danish counterpart after tensions soared between the two sides following a visit by Vice President JD Vance to the territory.
Foreign ministers largely looked to skirt the issue of a looming trade war after Mr Trump's hefty tariffs on allies, in particular the European Union.
But some warned that economic disputes risked jeopardising NATO's unity and its ability to strengthen itself.
"It's important to understand that we grow faster and better together, that if we want to build resources for a stronger defence, we need to have economic growth," Norway's Espen Barth Eide said.
"Protectionism will not do us any good."