Pentagon says US defense, NATO chiefs discuss need for more spending, lethality

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte discussed the alliance in a call on Wednesday, including “building a stronger, more lethal NATO Alliance” and raising allied defense spending, the Pentagon said.

The two officials also discussed the importance of “expanding the defense industrial base capacity on both sides of the Atlantic,” according to the Pentagon statement released on Thursday.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; writing by Susan Heavey)