Rubio’s message came Friday during a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, where he tried to steady NATO allies that have been rattled by what he and other officials described as ongoing work to adjust the U.S. footprint in Europe. The diplomats were still processing Trump’s latest abrupt announcement on troop levels, delivered not long after Rubio had left for the meeting.
According to Rubio, the U.S. remains committed to NATO while changing how its forces are positioned on the continent, a shift he said had been in motion and coordinated with allies. He told reporters that the alliance understands that the American troop presence in Europe would be adjusted and that the work was already ongoing. Rubio also said he understood why the announcements may create nervousness, while describing them as not a surprise to NATO members.
The immediate spark for allies’ concern came when Trump announced he would send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland. The announcement followed a recent message that Poland would not receive an expected deployment, leaving NATO partners to reconcile the reversal with what they had been told previously. The broader meeting in Helsingborg also arrived amid uncertainty about how the Iran war will develop and whether stalled U.S. efforts to restart diplomacy on the Russia-Ukraine conflict will resume.
The instability has extended beyond Poland, with allies also focused on an earlier Trump announcement about drawing down thousands of U.S. troops in Germany. Rubio said the German reduction did not panic allies because it brought the numbers back to where they were three years ago. He also pointed to a claim that major changes were not made suddenly, saying that “this is not a decision that was made on the back of a napkin.”
Rubio did not provide additional detail Friday about the next steps for troop changes in Europe, including questions about a possible reduction under the NATO Force Model, which is described as a contingency plan for European defense if serious security concerns arise. Analysts and officials on the continent have pushed for clearer explanations of what the U.S. will do and when, particularly as NATO prepares for a summit scheduled in Turkey in July.
Among the harshest reactions was Dan Fried, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland and assistant secretary of state for Europe. Fried said the Trump administration’s initial decision and later reversal reflected “bad process or lack of process,” and he called the outcome “an absolute mess” for America’s European allies. Fried said the reversal produced a poorly managed decision that “people were appalled,” adding that the administration needed to “pull itself together.”
Fried described how he heard of the reversal as it was unfolding. He said he was traveling throughout Europe for three weeks and that, while he was in Poland, he was doing a live TV interview when Trump announced the surprise change on Thursday night. Fried said he and the host had to laugh when they saw the news, even as he said he welcomed the step.
Rubio also addressed NATO’s ongoing differences over the Iran conflict. He described himself as a “strong supporter” of the alliance and said it is important, while repeating that some NATO countries did not provide what the U.S. sought. Rubio singled out Spain, saying allies had refused to allow U.S. access to bases for the Iran conflict, while others were reluctant to join a coalition to reopen and protect the Strait of Hormuz. He said the issue would have to be discussed, arguing that denied bases during a conflict raise questions about whether alliance value still holds.
Rubio noted that nearly all NATO allies agree Iran should not develop nuclear weapons, even as he said few, if any, stepped up when Trump indicated the U.S. would take action aimed at preventing it. In Helsingborg, the effort to connect U.S. military adjustments to alliance coordination continued against the backdrop of competing uncertainties—over Iran, over the Russia-Ukraine diplomatic track, and over how far and how fast the U.S. will change its posture in Europe.