Amid American pressure … NATO is looking to enhance defense capabilities

The foreign ministers of the NATO member states meet for the second day in Brussels to discuss strengthening the defensive capabilities of the coalition and continuing support for Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump has always called on his allies to increase defense spending, noting that the time of Europe’s dependence on the huge defense budget in Washington has been over.

In his first attendance of the meetings of foreign ministers of NATO member states, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio renewed on Thursday, Trump’s demands that the allies in NATO increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, which is more than twice the current goal of at least 2%.

While Rubio acknowledged that increasing defensive spending will significantly take time, he said that Washington needs to see a progress in this file.

He added: “We want to get out of here by understanding that we are on a realistic path to achieve the commitment of each member of NATO and implement their promise to reach 5% of the spending,” including the United States.