The U.S. ambassador to Portugal has urged Lisbon to replace its ageing F-16 fighter jets with Lockheed Martin’s F-35, saying the stealth aircraft would ensure compatibility with Europe’s top-tier air forces.
Ambassador John Arrigo told CNN Portugal late on Sunday that he intended to draw on his business experience to help Portugal increase defence spending to NATO’s target of 5% of gross domestic product by 2035, up from the current 2%.
"F-35 is the best fighter - it's a fifth-generation stealth fighter, it'll get them (the Portuguese Air Force) into the Champions League when it comes to the EU," Arrigo said.
Portuguese Defence Minister Nuno Melo said in November that the selection process for the replacement fighters had not yet started.
Arrigo said more than 900 F-35s were either in service or on order across Europe and that, for “interoperability, the F-35 is definitely the way to go.” He also noted that 25% of the aircraft is manufactured using European components.
On relations with China, the ambassador said the Trump administration was not pushing Portugal to choose between Washington and Beijing or to decouple from China. Instead, the U.S. was promoting “de-risking”, he said, through measures such as strengthening cybersecurity and tightening investment screening.
Chinese companies expanded in Portugal following the 2011–14 bailout, when lower asset prices attracted foreign investors.
Portugal secured a €78 billion bailout in May 2011 from the EU, IMF and ECB after soaring borrowing costs during the eurozone debt crisis cut it off from the markets. In return, it agreed to harsh austerity measures that triggered a deep recession.
Arrigo said the U.S. sees itself as Portugal's "best partner but wants to keep any adversary... at arm's length."
Portugal joined China's Belt and Road Initiative in December 2018. Arrigo said Lisbon's partnership with the U.S. would "flourish" if it were to exit the initiative, as Italy did in 2023.
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The United States and Iran will hold a new round of nuclear negotiations in Geneva on Thursday as part of renewed diplomatic efforts to reach a potential agreement, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi announced on Sunday.
The U.S. military carried out a strike on Friday (20 February) against a vessel allegedly involved in narcotrafficking in the Eastern Pacific, according to U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM).
The U.S. government has signed an agreement with Uzbekistan to secure better access to the Central Asian country's critical minerals, as U.S. President Donald Trump moves to counter China's dominance of crucial resources and their supply chains.
The United States has carried out its first air transport of a nuclear microreactor on a cargo plane, flying the unit from California to Utah in a demonstration designed to show the technology can be rapidly deployed for military and civilian use.
A seven-month-old Japanese macaque has drawn international attention after forming an unusual bond with a stuffed orangutan toy after being rejected by its mother.
Divers have recovered the bodies of seven Chinese tourists and a Russian driver after their minibus broke through the ice of on Lake Baikal in Russia, authorities said.
President Donald Trump said on Saturday (21 February) that he will raise temporary tariffs on nearly all U.S. imports from 10% to 15%, the maximum allowed under the law, after the Supreme Court struck down his previous tariff program.
Pakistan said it carried out cross-border strikes on militant targets inside Afghanistan after blaming a series of recent suicide bombings, including attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, on fighters it said were operating from Afghan territory.
Iran announced on Saturday (21 February) that it has designated the naval and air forces of European Union member states as “terrorist entities” in a reciprocal move after the EU blacklisted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has written to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to say he would back any UK government plan to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession, a statement shared by Starmer's office said.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency will halt the collection of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act on Tuesday (24 February), more than three days after the U.S. Supreme Court declared the duties unlawful.
A British national was among at least 19 people killed when a passenger bus plunged off a mountain highway into the Trishuli river in Nepal before dawn on Monday (23 February), authorities said. A New Zealander and a Chinese national were among those injured.
European Union Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas has said the bloc is unlikely to reach agreement on a new package of sanctions against Russia at Monday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers, as continued Hungarian opposition keeps consensus out of reach.
Further Iran-U.S. nuclear talks are scheduled in Geneva on Thursday (26 February) as diplomacy resumes over Tehran’s nuclear programme following earlier mediation efforts. But will the talks move Iran-U.S. negotiations closer to a deal, and what should be expected from the meeting?
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