Rubio blasts EU over 'international law,' says they 'don't get to determine how the US defends national security'

Marco Rubio has slammed critics in the European Union who have claimed that the Trump administration striking drug boats with designated terrorists on board has been in violation of international law. The Trump administration has conducted and then publicly displayed a number of strikes on boats the government has said were carrying massive amounts of drugs such as cocaine and fentanyl.

He made the comments while speaking to reporters at a G7 event when a reporter asked, "European representative on foreign policy, Kaja Kalla, ... told me that they discussed the legality and that there are two reasons why an operation would be legal: self-defense and a UN resolution; that neither of those applied in this case; that they are all struggling with the drug issue and that they should discuss whether international law needs to be updated.  So let me ask you about that."

“I don’t think that the European Union gets to determine what international law is. What they certainly don’t get to determine is how the United States defends its national security,” Rubio said. 

“The United States is under attack from organized, criminal narco-terrorists in our hemisphere, and the president is responding in the defense of our country," he added.

Rubio then suggested the EU critics have been hypocritical over the issue of defense, as some countries have called on the US to provide weaponry for Ukraine in the war against Russia.

"I do find it interesting that all these countries want us to send nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles to defend Europe. But when the United States positions aircraft carriers in our hemisphere, where we live, somehow that's a problem. So I would say that the United States and this president has made very clear his job is to protect the United States from threats against the United States and that is what he's doing in this operation," Rubio said.

Recently, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, was critical of the military operations and boat strikes taking place in the Caribbean carried out by the US military. “We have observed with concern military operations in the Caribbean region because they disregard international law and because France has a presence in this region through its overseas territories, where more than a million of our compatriots reside,” Barrot said in a meeting with the G7 foreign ministers, as per Reuters.

Per a report from CNN, the UK has also stopped sharing some of its intelligence with the United States over the boat strikes.