United States President Donald Trump will participate in the upcoming NATO summit scheduled for July 7 and 8 in Ankara, Turkey, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio disclosed this while appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, amid continuing debate over Washington’s commitment to the transatlantic military alliance.
“The President himself will be attending the next NATO meeting of heads of state, where all these points will be made clear,” Rubio told lawmakers. “We’re still in NATO, but NATO needs significant changes.”
The secretary of state described the gathering of the alliance’s 32 member countries as a crucial moment for the organisation, saying important issues must be addressed.
Rubio said the meeting would be “probably the most important meeting in NATO’s history, because there’s some things that need to be cleared up and fixed.”
Tensions between Washington and some of its NATO partners have persisted following disagreements over recent security and defence matters. The alliance has faced renewed scrutiny after several European governments declined to participate alongside the United States and Israel in military operations against Iran. The US has also reduced parts of its military presence in Europe.
Speaking separately before Congress on Tuesday, Rubio criticised Spain’s decision not to permit American forces to use military facilities on its territory for operations targeting Iran.
“We have members of that alliance that are basically denying the use of those bases in a contingency,” Rubio said.
He added that such actions were enough “to question the entire thing.”
The July summit is expected to focus on the future direction of NATO, burden-sharing among member states and broader security challenges facing the alliance.