UK Has ‘No Issues’ With Trump’s NATO Challenge, Minister Says

US President Donald Trump’s overnight comments suggesting he would not defend NATO countries that do not spend enough on defense present “no issues”, Britain’s health minister Stephen Kinnock has said, The Guardian reported.

Reacting to the US President’s remarks, Kinnock told Times Radio on Friday that even before Trump took office, the US “has been challenging the other NATO members to step up and boost defense capability and be ready to defend our backyard.”

“I think it’s absolutely right that we are now seeing, particularly through the leadership of our prime minister, the European arm of NATO coming together and meeting that challenge. So I think there’s no issues really around the challenge that the United States has set for us as European nations; what’s vitally important now is that we step up and do that,” PA News Agency quoted Kinnock as saying.

“Trump has never said that he thinks the United States should leave NATO, he has never said that he doesn’t believe in Article 5, and I think that we absolutely have to hold together as an alliance in defense of freedom and democracy and the values that we cherish,” Kinnock reportedly said while responding to a question on whether the UK could trust the US.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in his diplomatic push over Ukraine, had a phone call with the leaders of Canada, Norway, Turkey and Iceland, as well as European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa, the report said.

A day earlier, EU leaders held discussions, following which they committed to bolstering Europe’s defenses and freeing up hundreds of billions of euros for security.

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