Mattis to visit NATO next week

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis plans to travel to NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Feb. 14 -- Valentine's Day -- to "underscore the commitment" of the United States to the alliance and to defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, according to a Pentagon statement.

In Brusels, Mattis will attend the NATO Defense Ministerial and meet with a host of ministers from the counter-ISIL coalition.

Mattis will then travel to Germany on Feb. 17 to attend the Munich Security Conference.

The journey marks Mattis' second trip as defense secretary. His first trip was to South Korea and Japan on the heels of President Trump's decision to formally withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

When campaigning, Trump called the U.S. commitment to NATO into question, arguing the other nations do not carry their fair share of the security burden.

"We defend Japan. We defend Germany. We defend South Korea. We defend Saudi Arabia," Trump said during a debate last September. "They do not pay us what they should be paying us.”