Now is not the time for the US or Europe to go it alone, warns Nato chief

Mark Rutte says US wants reassurance European allies will ‘step up’ while Europe needs to know ‘Uncle Sam still has our back’

Nato’s secretary general has told the US and Europe it is “not the time to go it alone” amid reports that Washington and some European leaders want to weaken their commitments to the transatlantic military alliance.

Mark Rutte said in a speech in Warsaw that the US needed to be told that European countries would “step up” and lift their defence spending – while they needed to hear that Washington would not abandon them.