Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Senior Advisor Sean Parnell provided the following readout:
On April 24, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Pentagon. The leaders discussed upcoming NATO engagements. Secretary Hegseth reiterated the U.S. commitment to NATO and said the Alliance must return to prioritizing warfighting, lethality, and deterrence. The Secretary underscored that European and Canadian allies must increase their defense spending to five percent of GDP and that European allies must take primary responsibility for Europe's conventional deterrence and defense. Both leaders discussed ways to accelerate the transition to primary European leadership within NATO.