The internal Pentagon email said access, basing and overflight rights (ABO) were “just the absolute baseline for Nato”, the unnamed US official told Reuters.
As possible retaliation for this perceived lack of cooperation, the email suggested reassessing American diplomatic support for longstanding European “imperial possessions” such as the Falkland Islands, Reuters quoted the US official as saying.
The Falklands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas, are about 8,000 miles from the UK and about 300 miles from mainland Argentina.
Argentina has long claimed sovereignty over the islands, a British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean. The two countries fought a war over the issue, after Argentine forces invaded the islands in 1982.
Another option in the email outlined suspending “difficult” countries from important positions within the alliance, according to the official.
The official told Reuters that the memo does not suggest that the US could withdraw from the alliance, nor does it propose closing bases in Europe.
In response to the Reuters story, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said that despite “everything” the US has done for its Nato allies, “they were not there for us”.
She added: “The War Department will ensure that the president has credible options to ensure that our allies are no longer a paper tiger and instead do their part.
We have no further comment on any internal deliberations to that effect.”