‘It’s Not Enough’: Pete Hegseth Demands European Allies Increase Defense Spending at NATO Summit
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called on European members of NATO to follow through on President Donald Trump’s request for them to increase their defense spending budget on Thursday.
Since his first term in office, Trump has consistently demanded that European allies increase their defense spending and stop relying on the United States. Trump has even floated the idea of leaving NATO unless allies start to pay their “fair share.”
Hegseth reiterated Trump’s demand during a summit in Brussels on Thursday morning.
The U.S. is committed to building a stronger, more lethal NATO. However, we must ensure that European and Canadian commitment to Article III of this treaty is just as strong. Article III says that allies, and I quote, “by means of continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid, will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack.” Leaders of our European allies should take primary responsibility for defense of the continent, which means security ownership by all allies. Guided by a clear understanding of strategic realities. And it is an imperative, given the strategic realities that we face. And that begins with increasing defense spending. 2% is a start. As President Trump has said, but it’s not enough. Nor is 3%. Nor is 4% more like 5%. Real investment. Real urgency.
We can talk all we want about values. Values are important, but you can’t shoot values. You can’t shoot flags and you can’t shoot strong speeches. There is no replacement for hard power. As much as we may not want to like the world we live in, in some cases. There’s nothing like hard power. It should be obvious that increasing allied European defense spending is critical. As the President of the United States has said, also critical is expanding our defense industrial base capacity on both sides of the Atlantic. Our dollars, our euros, our pounds must become real capability.
Watch the clip above via CNN.
