MILWAUKEE — House Speaker Paul Ryan is vigorously defending the role of NATO and the importance of the United States leading the creation of free-trade agreements, in a break from positions taken by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Ryan called NATO an “indispensable ally” during a luncheon Tuesday hosted by the political website Wispolitics.com. Trump caused alarm last week when he suggested the United States might abandon its NATO military commitments if he were elected president.
But Ryan says he believes NATO “is as important now as” ever.
Ryan says he also believes healthy trade helps to combat terrorism, and that he wants the U.S. to take the lead in entering free trade agreements.
Trump has made his opposition to trade agreements the centerpiece of his economic argument.
