Vice President Joe Biden attempted to put the United States’ NATO allies at ease Tuesday during a trip to Latvia, telling Baltic leaders to pay no attention to Donald Trump’s July comments suggesting he would not automatically defend NATO members.
“I want to make it absolutely clear to all the people in Baltic states: we have pledged our sacred honor, the United States of America … to the NATO treaty and Article Five,” Biden said, according to Reuters.
“The fact that you occasionally hear something from a presidential candidate in the other party, it’s … nothing that should be taken seriously,” he added.
The vice president said that there’s “continued overwhelming bipartisan commitment in the United States of America in both political parties to maintain our commitment to NATO,” according to Reuters.
Trump’s comments last month indicating he would only help NATO allies after he assessed whether that “have fulfilled their obligations to us” set off alarm bells in Europe. The U.S. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg quickly set out to assure NATO members that the alliance was committed to mutual security. Trump’s comments were condemned on the left and the right.