EXCLUSIVE: Sen Josh Hawley Calls for Europe to Scale Back Reliance on America

It needs to go up to two and a half, at least,” Hawley told Breitbart News, referring to the requirement that NATO members pledge 2% of their GDP to defense spending, which most member countries have not fulfilled.

Hawley told Breitbart News that he does not believe expanding NATO is in the national security interest of the United States, and that upping American commitments in Europe puts the US in greater danger in Asia.

And so far, I haven’t heard a single person respond to that substantively, not one,” Hawley told Breitbart News in response to McConnell’s remark.

So, people can name call all they want, but I have yet to hear any substantive arguments as to why this actually is good for the United States,” Hawley continued.

Asked to respond to that criticism, Hawley reiterated that commitments in Europe do not provide a solution or pertain to the more pressing challenge for America in East Asia.

That’s all that matters, all the rest of it is talk,” Hawley told Breitbart News in response to his colleague from Texas.

He emphasized that the threat from China must be at the top of American defense priorities, not expanding military commitments in Europe.

“The problem is we are not in a position to stop them right now, and I think that’s what people aren’t really grappling with, we are in big trouble right now in the Pacific,” Hawley told Breitbart News.

And right now, China needs to be our priority,” the Missouri Senator told Breitbart News.

What we’re doing that right now in Europe, I think, is a mistake.

“We could be devoting a lot more resources, moving them out of the Middle East and out of Europe, to the Asia Pacific; we could be doing things like strengthening the tariffs against China; we could be getting the kind of munitions and manpower we need in the Pacific, in order to deter China