NATO pressures European defense industry over US demands

(Patria) - Secretary General Mark Rutte plans to pressure European defense corporations and agencies at a meeting in Brussels, urging them to increase production to satisfy US President Donald Trump, the Financial Times (FT) reported, TASS reported.

“The Secretary General regularly meets with industry and financial institutions from across the Alliance to encourage increased production, innovation, and investment to meet our capability needs,” a NATO official said.

According to the newspaper, NATO is interested in the European industry helping to meet Washington's demands for increased defense spending to mitigate Trump's "fury" over allies' alleged inability to support the United States in the Middle East conflict.

FT stated that representatives from Rheinmetall, Safran, Airbus, Saab, MBDA, and Leonardo will attend the meeting. In addition to increasing the number of factories and personnel to boost productivity, special attention will be paid to discussing air defense and long-range missile issues.