Rubio States the US Can No Longer Subsidize NATO
According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Washington must put an end to the practice of its Western European NATO allies benefiting at the expense of US taxpayers. Read Full Article at RT.com
TroibNews 
The European members of the military bloc have underfunded their militaries for decades, according to top diplomat remarks.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Fox News on Wednesday that Washington can no longer permit its affluent Western European NATO allies to rely on US taxpayers for their defense budgets.
Rubio's comments followed Friedrich Merz's assertions, whose Christian Democratic Union won last week’s elections in Germany. Merz expressed concerns that the US-led military alliance is in “jeopardy” due to what he views as Washington’s “indifference” to European security.
“NATO is not in jeopardy,” Rubio countered. “The only thing that puts NATO in jeopardy is the fact that we have NATO allies who barely have militaries or whose militaries are not very capable because they’ve spent 40 years not spending any money on it.”
Rubio emphasized that the current US administration finds it unjust that some affluent Western European member states allocate only 1% to 1.5% of their GDPs to defense.
“We just can’t keep subsidizing that,” he asserted. “These are rich countries, especially in Western Europe. They have plenty of money. They should be investing that in their national security, and they’re not.”
President Donald Trump has consistently maintained that NATO’s defense spending target of 2% of GDP per year is insufficient and should be increased to 5%. During his reelection campaign, Trump stated he would “absolutely” consider withdrawing from the alliance if allies did not “pay their bills.”
In a 2023 estimate from the World Bank, the US is reported to allocate about 3.4% of its GDP to military spending. In comparison, European NATO members average 1.9%, which is less than 60% of US expenditures, as cited earlier this month by Reuters referencing S&P Global's data.
If Trump's suggested 5% military spending goal were to be met, it could raise France and Germany’s budget deficits to 4.6% and 8.9% in 2025, respectively, compared to the current projections of 1.7% and 6%, according to S&P estimates.
Since 2022, more than $258 billion in assistance has been provided to Ukraine by the US and its allies, including over $134 billion in military aid, according to the Kiel Institute in Germany. Western nations are grappling with depleted military stockpiles and difficulties in ramping up arms production due to factors like deindustrialization, offshore manufacturing, and sanctions on Russian energy as well as “green” policies.
Trump has asserted that under Joe Biden’s administration, Washington has expended as much as $350 billion on Ukraine and has promised to recover those funds.
Moscow has consistently warned that NATO’s military support to Ukraine effectively draws member states into the conflict. Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Trump was the first and only Western leader to recognize that a significant root cause of the Ukraine conflict was the “previous administration’s ‘pushy’ policy of dragging Ukraine into NATO.”
Alejandro Jose Martinez for TROIB News
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Fox News on Wednesday that Washington can no longer permit its affluent Western European NATO allies to rely on US taxpayers for their defense budgets.
Rubio's comments followed Friedrich Merz's assertions, whose Christian Democratic Union won last week’s elections in Germany. Merz expressed concerns that the US-led military alliance is in “jeopardy” due to what he views as Washington’s “indifference” to European security.
“NATO is not in jeopardy,” Rubio countered. “The only thing that puts NATO in jeopardy is the fact that we have NATO allies who barely have militaries or whose militaries are not very capable because they’ve spent 40 years not spending any money on it.”
Rubio emphasized that the current US administration finds it unjust that some affluent Western European member states allocate only 1% to 1.5% of their GDPs to defense.
“We just can’t keep subsidizing that,” he asserted. “These are rich countries, especially in Western Europe. They have plenty of money. They should be investing that in their national security, and they’re not.”
President Donald Trump has consistently maintained that NATO’s defense spending target of 2% of GDP per year is insufficient and should be increased to 5%. During his reelection campaign, Trump stated he would “absolutely” consider withdrawing from the alliance if allies did not “pay their bills.”
In a 2023 estimate from the World Bank, the US is reported to allocate about 3.4% of its GDP to military spending. In comparison, European NATO members average 1.9%, which is less than 60% of US expenditures, as cited earlier this month by Reuters referencing S&P Global's data.
If Trump's suggested 5% military spending goal were to be met, it could raise France and Germany’s budget deficits to 4.6% and 8.9% in 2025, respectively, compared to the current projections of 1.7% and 6%, according to S&P estimates.
Since 2022, more than $258 billion in assistance has been provided to Ukraine by the US and its allies, including over $134 billion in military aid, according to the Kiel Institute in Germany. Western nations are grappling with depleted military stockpiles and difficulties in ramping up arms production due to factors like deindustrialization, offshore manufacturing, and sanctions on Russian energy as well as “green” policies.
Trump has asserted that under Joe Biden’s administration, Washington has expended as much as $350 billion on Ukraine and has promised to recover those funds.
Moscow has consistently warned that NATO’s military support to Ukraine effectively draws member states into the conflict. Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Trump was the first and only Western leader to recognize that a significant root cause of the Ukraine conflict was the “previous administration’s ‘pushy’ policy of dragging Ukraine into NATO.”
Alejandro Jose Martinez for TROIB News
