LISBON, Portugal (AP) — U.S. pressure on NATO allies to increase their defense spending “is not a hostile thing,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday, but reiterated that the Trump administration wants the military alliance to be a stronger deterrent against threats.

Rubio told reporters during a visit to European NATO ally Portugal that “the stronger the members of NATO are, the stronger NATO is, the stronger the alliances and the stronger the deterrence is.”

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