France, April 4 -- As Europe draws up plans to spend hundreds of billions of euros on defence, tensions with the United States are rising. EU leaders say the bloc must prepare to rely less on American military support, but Washington has warned against shutting US arms makers out of future contracts. Analysts say Europe still faces major hurdles if it wants to defend itself without US support.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Friday said trade disputes must not be allowed to interfere with defence cooperation.
"I think these two are really separate. We should keep them separate, and should not let them to interfere in our discussions," Rutte said after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
His comments come as the European Union consi...