Transcript of Secretary Pete Hegseth Hosting Honor Cordon and Meeting With United Kingdom Secretary of State for Defence Wes Streeting

PETE HEGSETH: Mr. Secretary, Wes, welcome to you and your team, to the Pentagon and opportunity to meet face-to-face. We've spoken a number of times since the beginning, and I appreciate, your outreach from day one. It's a demonstration of the enduring — this enduring special relationship and friendship.

Which you've said. I appreciate your recent public remarks too, are not about nostalgia. They're about an ongoing partnership that needs to be active in a — in a dangerous world, a dynamic world, and we welcome that. Certainly, we're invested in NATO 3.0 and ensuring that we've got a credible defense in the continent standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you and that European allies take the primary responsibility for defense of the continent.

And it's been very encouraging under President Trump's leadership to watch NATO step up, NATO countries step up and, certainly, our European Posture Review, which is being led by Bridge Colby and General Grynkewich, as the EUCOM commander, is meant to look at power projection and basing and priorities and make sure that that's properly aligned with the future of NATO and that primary responsibility of defense.

We've asked NATO. President Trump has led the way on this, NATO countries investing more in their own defense. Commend the UK for — for projecting to do — to do just that. Obviously, we always want more and faster. We feel the same way here. We're pushing for a $1.5 trillion budget. We're going to be — we're driving hard on a reconciliation bill and other things.

So we're going to make sure we're investing and leading the way on that spending as well, but we expect allies and partners, to do the same. But it's beyond just spending and I appreciate the comments you've made on this, because I think they're spot on. We talk about an arsenal of freedom here in the States, building that and ensuring that our domestic manufacturing, our industry, our production lines, made in America, speed, scale, made with partners.

If we can't make it and rely on that supply chain when it matters the most, you don't have it. And you've talked a lot about that and you're leading aggressively into that and we look forward to finding ways to partner. And then we certainly appreciate the most recent communication regarding some threats that occurred in the UK. And again, a demonstration of how closely linked we are, understand the shared threat, nature of it and the need to respond together.

So thank you and welcome to you and your team, and I look forward to a very productive discussion today.

WES STREETING: Well, thank you, Mr. Secretary, Pete. It's great to be here in Washington for my first visit as defense secretary for the United Kingdom. And, really, I'm here because our two countries have never been content to witness the unfolding of history. Our responsibility and our obligation has been to determine our own future.

And it's fair to say, at this stage, it's not clear whether freedom or tyranny will define the 21st century. What is clear is that the United Kingdom and the United States will not be bystanders in that struggle, and we're determined to see freedom prevail, and that's been the essence of our alliance since its inception.

And in that context, my priorities are to strengthen our capability. That does mean investing more. We're delivering the biggest sustained increase in defense spending in the UK since the end of the Cold War and I think I'm probably the only member of the British cabinet who, ahead of this year's budget and next year's spending review, can confidently say that we will get more for defense in both of those fiscal events.

But to your point, it's not just about investing more, it's about investing in the right things and making sure that we're pushing the frontier of defense innovation and translating that innovation into capability a lot more quickly. We've also got to strengthen our defense industrial base, making sure we don't just out-innovate but out-produce our adversaries.

We can see in Ukraine how important it is to be able to sustain a warfighting machine. And the — the grim reality against this backdrop of global instability is that we do need to be in a position where we are not only deterring our adversaries, but being prepared to fight and win should deterrence fail.

And that brings me to the importance of alliances. For this government, this labor government, we see the foundation of NATO right up there in the pantheon of achievements of our party and government, alongside the National Health Service. And the centrality of the NATO alliance, is the principle that an attack on one is an attack on all.

But that also relies on every — every member of that alliance pulling their weight. And it is fair to say that frustrations with Europe and European investment in defense have not been confined to this president or, indeed, one political party here in DC. And so that challenge is the right one.

The UK is stepping up. We're stepping up willingly. And I think the conversation and the focus in Europe has changed and continues to change.

And I think in the fullness of time, history record, its thanks to President Trump for enabling Europe and pressing Europe to take the defense of our own continent and our own interests more seriously. So that's the context in which I arrive. I've enjoyed our working relationship so far, and I'm looking forward to deepening it, because, uh, you know, to the point of nostalgia, we've got lots of shared history.

Uh, but most importantly, we honor our past by building a future and a future based on freedom, and the United Kingdom and the United States will always stand together as we do that.

PETE HEGSETH: Very well said. I hope you got that on tape. Thank you very much, appreciate it. Thank you.