US President Donald Trump will attend the NATO summit scheduled to take place in Turkey in July, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Wednesday, amid ongoing questions about Washington’s commitment to the military alliance.
Speaking before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rubio said Trump would participate in the July 7-8 gathering of NATO leaders in Ankara and use the opportunity to clarify the administration’s position on the alliance.
“The President himself will be attending the next NATO meeting of heads of state, where all these points will be made clear,” Rubio said. “We’re still in NATO, but NATO needs significant changes.”
Rubio described the summit, which will bring together leaders from the alliance’s 32 member countries, as potentially one of the most consequential meetings in NATO’s history.
According to him, the alliance faces several issues that require urgent attention and resolution.
“This is probably the most important meeting in NATO’s history, because there’s some things that need to be cleared up and fixed,” he added.
Relations between Washington and some of its European allies have remained strained following disagreements over the conflict involving Iran. Several European governments declined to join the United States and Israel in military operations against Iran, a development that has exposed divisions within the alliance.
The United States has also reduced part of its military presence in Europe, further fueling debate about the future direction of NATO and Washington’s role within the bloc.
In separate testimony before Congress on Tuesday, Rubio expressed frustration over Spain’s refusal to allow US forces to use its military bases for operations related to Iran.
“We have members of that alliance that are basically denying the use of those bases in a contingency,” Rubio said, adding that such actions provide reason “to question the entire thing.”
The upcoming summit is expected to address alliance unity, defence commitments, and broader security challenges facing NATO members.
