Those NATO allies who brushed off the request of the US government to pay as agreed for common defence, might have been too superficial in their judgement.  The U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to skip a meeting with NATO foreign ministers next month in order to stay home for a visit of China’s president and will go to Russia later in April, U.S. officials said, indicating Brussels NATO  headquarters are not on priority list, while setting the relations with Beijing and Moscow first.

Reportedly Tillerson intends to miss what would have been his first meeting of the 28 NATO allies on April 5-6 in Brussels so that he can attend President Donald Trump’s expected April 6-7 talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Skipping the NATO meeting and visiting Moscow signals that the US administration means business, while calling the allies to contribute adequately to the Alliance.