Rick Scott Asks Ambassador Nominee On Getting Netherlands To 'Step Up And Be A Better NATO Partner'

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) spoke about the economic alignment of the Netherlands with the United States.

Transcript

00:00all right thank you chairman well first off congratulations to each of you you're gonna

00:03it's um it's a great opportunity to be an ambassador and you'll have an opportunity

00:08of lifetime to really have an impact on uh relationships with the each of these countries

00:12so let me start with mr popolo we have a strong relationship with the netherlands um it's nice

00:18to see the government has committed to the two percent threshold for defense spending

00:22it has taken a long time uh and if you know if i was just in finland denmark and estonia and

00:29they're they're spending significantly more uh if you listen to what nato's needs are when you

00:34when you go over there you you there they are absolutely convinced that putin will invade as

00:39soon as the uh are within a reasonable period of time after the ukraine war is over um so what do

00:46you you know what do you what are you gonna do to get them to step up and be a better nato partner

00:53thank you senator scott as you noted they're currently a little above two percent um they're a

00:58founding nato partner part of the f-35 program so they i feel like we're aligned however president

01:04trump has made clear that um we have to share the burden more equitably in the eu and and frankly

01:11russia is you know primarily a european problem so i'm going to be pushing on behalf of the president

01:16and secretary rubio to see what we can do to get them closer to the five percent that as i think you

01:21know is what he has requested um there is going to need to be forces in ukraine after i believe

01:27president trump will be successful in negotiating a peace deal um there's has to be a conversation

01:31about how that's going to be supported uh the threat of china continues to grow and so the europeans

01:35and the dutch also they need to step up what um you know it seems to me that you know we you know our

01:43the world is dividing up between the the bad guys communist china russia iran uh north korea and a few

01:51others um and then the the democracies how and it seems to me we have to align our economic interests

01:59and so how are you going to help um the netherlands get better at aligning their economic interest with

02:05ours uh where both countries have the opportunity for their workers to be able to sell products and

02:10services into each other's country and we stop buying from um the people that want to demolish our way

02:15alive excellent thank you uh senator uh we do we are blessed to run a trade surplus with the netherlands

02:21today although a lot of that does come into rotterdam and then go out to other countries in europe

02:25i'm certainly going to be wearing the hat of the u.s l and g producers to see if we can

02:30sell more generally speaking i would love to be a representative for the u.s business community would

02:36like to come over and expand our relationship they they're currently supporting over a million u.s jobs

02:42and i think generally speaking uh they have been really good partners where there have been issues

02:46around national security or export controls that we we've been able to work together but clearly i'm

02:51going to be trying to build that relationship we we share an existential threat with china and there's

02:56no reason we shouldn't be tighter uh together in opposition to what they're doing thanks thank you

03:01mr walsh historically we have had a very strong relationship with ireland and i hope that continues however

03:06several members of the irish government have made inflammatory one-sided statements blaming israel for the

03:11conflict in the middle east while ignoring terrorism by hamas and hezbollah how are you

03:17going to be able to push back against this rhetoric in uh you know hold um hold them accountable for

03:23disparaging a u.s ally thank you for the question senator um it is a really important topic um and

03:31something i look forward to actually getting a lot more information on uh in the future um but first

03:37i'd like to say that uh ireland did at least condemn the october 7th attack so that that was a good

03:44start um and president trump has made it very clear that israel is an ally right and i and i fully on

03:50board with that um and any anti-semitism throughout the whole world is will not be tolerated um and and

03:58and i agree with that also and i would love to meet with you or anyone else in the committee

04:03um to actually talk about that further um but it's certainly on my mind and something that i'm

04:08i'm looking forward to discussing more um and just having open conversation with them to talk it through

04:13and so they understand what our what our role is in that thank you uh miss campos the minka republic

04:21has had some issues because of the unrest in in haiti what um what are your plans to be able to

04:27address the refugee crisis that uh the minka republic is dealing with and trying to uh have

04:33make sure the minka republic is part of the solution with regard to haiti thank you thank you for that

04:38question senator uh as i as i mentioned earlier to senator kane who asked a similar question uh i'm not

04:47able right now to get ahead of what the administration wants to do in terms of haiti but i i do commit to

04:52working very closely with our embassy in port-au-prince with the administration with you and your

04:57staff here at this committee to try to find solutions to stabilize uh haiti because you're

05:02right it the the uh attendant effects of the instability on on uh dominican republic and on

05:10in particular your state of florida sir uh are serious so i i will be working hard uh with my

05:16colleagues uh as i said in port-au-prince to come up with some solutions there all right well thank each

05:21of you mr christian good luck with uh france i don't i don't i don't see them as the perfect ally

05:26they don't seem to always um cooperate with us to make sure uh countries like iran are held

05:31accountable but i know you'll work your butt off trying to make sure they do the right thing but

05:35but congratulations to each of you

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