BRATISLAVA, February 15. /TASS/. The United States is not going to withdraw from NATO, with thousands of American soldiers taking part in the alliance’s mission, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
"We're not leaving NATO. We may move a couple thousand troops from one country to another, but this has always been the case," he told a news conference after talks with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Bratislava, when asked to comment on the United States’ status within NATO amid reports on the reduction of US forces deployed to Europe.
According to Rubio, Washington does not view European countries’ bigger influence within NATO as a negative thing and wants to see Europe as a partner rather than its subordinate. "We're not asking Europe to be a vassal of the United States. We want to be your partner. We want to work with Europe. We want to work with our allies. We want to work in cooperation with you," he said.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said earlier this week that it would take time to reduce the number of US troops stationed in Europe. In his words, Washington wants to "pivot more towards Asia."
In 2025, the Pentagon redeployed a brigade from the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army from Romania back to its home base in the state of Kentucky.
Late in 2025, the US Congress approved a defense budget that explicitly barred the Pentagon from reducing the number of American troops stationed in Europe below 76,000 for more than 45 days.