Marco Rubio

How much we spend on defense or where, how we deploy it, these are important questions.

They are.

But they are not the fundamental one.

The fundamental question we must answer at the outset is what exactly are we defending?

Because armies do not fight for abstractions.

Armies fight for a people.

Armies fight for a nation.

Armies fight for a way of life.

And that is what we are defending, a great civilization that has every reason to be proud of its history.

We can reindustrialize our economies and rebuild our capacity to defend our people.

But the work of this new alliance should not be focused just on military cooperation and reclaiming the industries of the past.

It should also be focused on together advancing our mutual interests and new frontiers, unshackling our ingenuity, our creativity and the dynamic spirit to build a new Western century.

Commercial space travel and cutting-edge artificial intelligence

industrial automation and flex manufacturing, creating a Western supply chain for critical minerals not vulnerable to extortion from other powers, and a unified effort to compete for market share in the economies of the global South.

Together, we can not only take back control of our own industries and supply chains, we can prosper in the areas that will define the 21st century.

And I'm here today to leave it clear that America is charting the path for a new century of prosperity.

And that once again, we want to do it together with you, our cherished allies and our oldest friends.

We want to do it together with you, with a Europe that is proud of its heritage and of its history, with a Europe that has the spirit of creation and liberty that sent ships out into unchartered seas and birthed our civilization, with a Europe that has the means to defend itself and the will to survive.

We should be proud of what we achieved together in the last century, but now we must confront and embrace

the opportunities of a new one.