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Hello and welcome to News Hour from the BBC World Service.

Coming to you live from London, I'm James Kimmer Asami.

There was a time not that long ago when the entire focus of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers

would have been on

external threats to the alliance. But throughout his second term, President Trump's long-standing

frustration with his European allies has sometimes posed questions of an existential nature

for NATO. And even when the news from Washington has been positive, it has sometimes been

confusing. The latest source of

confusion, Mr Trump's abrupt reversal overnight of a previously announced Pentagon plan to

withdraw 4,000 American troops from Poland. Instead, Mr. Trump said he would be sending 5,000 troops

there. Well, after the meeting in Sweden, the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio,

offered this explanation for the troop movements. At the end of the day, I think it's well

understood in the alliance that the United States troop presence in Europe is going to be adjusted.

That work was already ongoing. And it's been done in coordination with our allies. I'm not saying

they're going to be thrilled about it, but they certainly are aware of it. You know, we have obligations in the Indo-Pacific. We have obligations in the Middle East. We have obligations in the Western Hemisphere. So this has been an ongoing process. It shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. Mr. Rubio went on to say that there was plenty that NATO members needed to work on together.

One of the areas where I think we definitely can cooperate on is a defense industrial base.

It is clear to the world, to all of us, in the alliance and beyond,

that we simply are not able to produce munitions today at a rate that are necessary for future needs.

That's something that has to be addressed.

It's something that we can work together on. That's something that has to be addressed. That's something that we can work together on.

That's something we want to work together on.

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