Pence, Pompeo reassure NATO allies of U.S. support
WARSAW >> The Trump administration reaffirmed commitment to the NATO alliance and its core mission of a united front against Russia on Wednesday, but with a caveat that American interests will always come first.
Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan were all in Europe with versions of the same message: solidarity with the nearly 70-yearold alliance that President Donald Trump has at times questioned as obsolete and an undue burden on the United States.
“The United States of America stands with Poland in the most successful mutual-defense alliance in the history of the world — an alliance that each of you serves to uphold and defend — the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” Pence said as he met Polish President Andrzej Duda and addressed armed forces from Poland and the United States.
“Under President Trump, the United States will always put the security and prosperity of America first. But as the president has made clear — and as all of you prove every single day — America first does not mean America alone.”
Trump’s reservations about the alliance remain, and the assurances of his
aides carried a whiff of implied threat that allies had best do their share.
Pence and Pompeo are both in Poland, where the symbolism was unmistakable. Poland is among only a handful of NATO nations that meet an agreed target for defense spending, a sore spot for Trump, and the right-leaning government’s effort to draw additional U.S. forces to Poland is seen by critics as an endrun around NATO decisionmaking.
Poland plans to exceed that goal of spending 2 percent of gross domestic product over about the next decade, while expanding purchases of U.S.made weaponry and encouraging more U.S. forces to be based in the country.
Pence formally closed a deal Wednesday for Poland to buy 20 sets of American mobile rocket launchers.
Pompeo visited U.S. and Polish troops serving together at a base about 44 miles from the Russian border, and said the United States is reviewing its U.S. troop presence in NATO and contemplating an increase.
“As we enter the fifth year of Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine — a war he launched on European soil — we take seriously those concerns that Russia may one day try to open a front along the line right here,” Pompeo said.
He invoked the NATO article that commits members to come to each other’s aid if attacked.