Biden says 'I absolutely guarantee' U.S. commitment to NATO
By Steve Holland and Essi Lehto
HELSINKI (Reuters) — President Joe Biden on Thursday gave his assurance that the United States would stay committed to NATO despite «extreme elements» of the Republican party, during a visit to Finland to welcome it as the alliance's latest member.
«I absolutely guarantee it,» Biden said at a news conference when asked about the U.S. commitment to NATO given the political instability in the United States. Biden's predecessor, Republican former President Donald Trump, threatened to take the United States out of the alliance.
«No one can guarantee the future, but this is the best bet anyone could make,» Biden said. Biden, a Democrat, is running again for president in 2024 and is likely to face Trump as an opponent.
Biden was in Helsinki to participate in a summit with the leaders of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway. He came directly from this week's NATO summit held in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he said Russia's invasion of Ukraine had only made the alliance stronger.
«A stronger NATO makes the entire world stronger,» Biden said.
Finland's decision to join NATO broke with seven decades of military non-alignment and roughly doubled the length of the border NATO shares with Russia.
The country repelled an attempted Soviet invasion during World War Two but lost territory. It maintained accommodating relations with Russia until President Vladimir Putin's Ukraine invasion in February 2022.
Ahead of a bilateral meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Biden hailed Finland as an «incredible asset» to the NATO military alliance.
«I don't think NATO has ever been stronger,» he told reporters, adding later that this week's summit was a reminder of member nations' common values
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