Rex Tillerson will travel to Brussels to meet NATO foreign ministers at the end of next week, department officials said Friday, days after Democrats sharply criticized the secretary of state over reports that he planned to skip a NATO ministerial meeting.
Mr. Tillerson will also travel to Ankara, Turkey, on Thursday, March 30, to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before heading to Brussels on the 31st, the officials said.
The secretary of state met many NATO foreign ministers in Washington this week at a major summit of the 68-nation coalition battling the Islamic State. But the upcoming meeting in Brussels will be the first time he formally participates in a NATO ministerial meeting.
Reuters reported earlier this week that Mr. Tillerson had decided not to attend the NATO meeting, which was originally scheduled for April 5.
President Trump has been critical of NATO, saying member nations are not spending enough on defense to sustain the alliance and protect the West. And the report of Mr. Tillerson’s potential absence from the upcoming meeting sparked fears about the administration’s commitment to European security.
Rep. Eliot Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said this week that the idea that the secretary of state would skip the meeting represented “a grave error that will shake the confidence of America’s most important alliance.”
Rep. Mike Quigley, Illinois Democrat, added the following: “Given Vladimir Putin’s open disdain for NATO, and President Trump’s vocal skepticism about this vital alliance, Secretary Tillerson’s decision to miss this meeting with our global partners sends a very disturbing message to the American people and our friends around the world.”
It was not immediately clear whether their criticism had anything to do with the apparent reversal by the Trump administration, which will now send Mr. Tillerson to Brussels.
A State Department official told Reuters that the NATO ministerial meeting date had moved up from early April to March 31, apparently affecting the decision whether Mr. Tillerson would attend. There was no official statement from NATO.
The State Department, meanwhile, said that during his first stop in Turkey, itself at NATO ally, Mr. Tillerson will reaffirm the country’s “important role in ensuring regional stability.”
He will also “discuss the way forward” in the battle against the Islamic State in nearby Syria and Iraq with Turkish officials, the statement said.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.
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