NATO needs to produce more weaponry: Rutte tells Trump
13:23, 14/03/2025, Friday
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NATO chief Mark Rutte
'We are lagging behind when you compare to the Russians and the Chinese,' says NATO chief
NATO needs to produce more weaponry, the head of the alliance said Thursday during a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House.
"We are not doing enough, and not in the US, not in Europe, and we are lagging behind when you compare to the Russians and the Chinese," Mark Rutte told Trump.
"Europeans buying four times more here than the other way around, which is good because you have a strong defense industry, but we need to do more there to make sure that we ramp up the production and kill the red tape," he added.
He said in Trump's second term, the Europeans are committing to $800 billion in defense spending and the Germans are now up to half a trillion extra as well as the UK.
Others are committing much higher to defense spending, he said.
"They're not there. We need to do more," said Rutte.
The NATO chief added that he wants to work with Trump before a Hauge Summit from June 24 - 25 at the World Forum at The Hague "to make sure that we will have a NATO which is really reinvigorated under your leadership, and we are getting there."