- Title: NATO foreign ministers meet amid tensions between US and Allies
- Date: 1st April 2025
- Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (MARCH 28, 2025) (REUTERS) POLICY ANALYST AT THE EUROPEAN POLICY CENTRE (EPC), MARIA MARTISIUTE, GIVING INTERVIEW EUROPEAN POLICY CENTRE SIGN (SOUNDBITE) (English) POLICY ANALYST AT THE EUROPEAN POLICY CENTRE (EPC), MARIA MARTISIUTE, SAYING: "I think there are tensions internally within NATO. There are worries and concerns about what Americans' position m
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- Keywords: Marco Rubio NATO Russia U.S. Ukraine weapons
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: Europe,NATO,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002181326032025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Foreign ministers of NATO countries are set to meet on April 3-4 amid tensions between the U.S. and Europe.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte had warned the United States and Europe against any temptation to "go it alone" on security, amid increasingly differing views over the future of the transatlantic alliance and diverging views on Russia.
U.S. President Donald Trump this month cast doubt on Washington's willingness to defend NATO allies it deemed were not paying enough for their own defence, triggering alarm among European leaders as they try to shore up Ukraine in its fight against invading Russian forces.
Rutte's call for transatlantic unity came days after the Atlantic reported that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance had complained about European allies in a chat group. Hegseth expressed his "loathing of European free-loading", according to the Atlantic.
A number of European countries including Germany and Britain have announced plans to hike defence spending as Trump seeks a rapprochement with Russian President Vladimir Putin in his efforts to end the three-year-old war in Ukraine.
Germany's likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has questioned whether NATO will remain in its "current form" by the time of a NATO summit in The Hague in June.
Trump has said NATO members should spend 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence – a significant increase from the current 2% target and a level that no NATO country, including the United States, currently meets.
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