What's Next For NATO? Trump To Attend Alliance Leaders Meeting In May

President Donald Trump will go to Brussels in May to attend a NATO summit, the White House said Tuesday. The announcement comes in the midst of criticism that the Trump administration is facing, after a report revealed that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will not be attending the NATO meeting next month.

“The president looks forward to meeting with his NATO counterparts to reaffirm our strong commitment to NATO, and to discuss issues critical to the alliance, especially allied responsibility-sharing and NATO’s role in the fight against terrorism,” a White House statement said, referring to the meeting scheduled for May 25.

Read: Secretary Of State Tillerson To Skip NATO Meeting, Visit Russia, Report Says

The meeting was announced by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier Tuesday. Stoltenberg is also set to visit the White House on April 12 to discuss “how to strengthen the alliance to cope with challenges to national and international security,” according to the statement.

Trump’s visit to the Belgian capital for the heads of state meeting could be an important diplomatic decision for the administration after it came under fire when a Reuters report revealed that Secretary of State Tillerson will be missing the NATO foreign ministers meeting, his first, in the first week of April.

The reason cited was a scheduling conflict as Tillerson would stay back for a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping and travel to Russia the following week, Reuters reported. Russia, however, has not confirmed reports of Tillerson’s visit.

However, many have criticized the administration of abandoning its traditional alliances in favor of Russia.

“Donald Trump's administration is making a grave error that will shake the confidence of America's most important alliance and feed the concern that this administration simply too cozy with Vladimir Putin,” U.S. Rep. Eliot L. Engel, D- New York, said in a statement.