Europe has responded to President Donald Trump’s demands to pay more for defense, a top NATO military official said Saturday, adding that the relationship with the Pentagon is stable and free of “drama.”
“We have a NATO defense planning process process to give us the capability that we need, and we will acquire that in time” to reach a total spending level of 5% of GDP, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chair of the NATO Military Committee, said in an interview. “So I think we are in a good shape.”
He was speaking shortly after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivered scathing remarks about Europe and NATO at the Shangri-La Dialogue defense forum in Singapore.
“As a military side, we don’t have any drama going on” with the US, said Cavo Dragone, an Italian naval officer. Asked about a recent wave of Russian drone incursions in allied airspace, most recently hitting an apartment block in Romania on Friday, Cavo Dragone said NATO shouldn’t “overreact.”
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Hegseth in his comments praised allies in Asia and hailed stable US ties with China, while jabbing at longstanding defense partners in Europe.
“When our interests align, we act together with focused resolve,” Hegseth said about allies in Asia. “When our interests diverge, we adjust pragmatically without the drama or the moralizing. I think Western Europe might take note.”
Longstanding partners in Europe and NATO “have some big decisions to make,” Hegseth added, without going into detail about what those were.
The Trump administration has demanded allies globally step up defense spending and take responsibility for their regional security. While that has driven NATO allies toward more European collective defense and less reliance on the US, Washington has still continued to engage in Asia and deepened military coordination.
At a landmark NATO summit last year, all allies except for Spain pledged to spend 3.5% of gross domestic product on hard defense, and an additional 1.5% in related security areas. A number of allies, most of all Germany, have since ramped up their spending and are looking to showcase their progress at the upcoming summit in Ankara.
But apart from the occasional acknowledgment, harsh rhetoric toward Europe has continued, compounded by Trump’s anger at what he perceived as the region’s unwillingness to support his war in Iran, even though most allies provided logistical support through access to bases and airspace.
In recent weeks, Trump has also rattled Europe with sudden and contradictory pronouncements on troop withdrawals. The US then went on to tell allies that it was cutting back the strategic resources allotted to Europe in case of crisis or war.
European allies have bristled at the suddenness of the announcements, while the US and NATO Secretary general Mark Rutte have maintained that all decisions where expected.
In his remarks Saturday, Hegseth said Europe is “finally playing catch-up,” but criticized it for “throwing open their borders and hollowing out their militaries.”
This report is auto-generated from Bloomberg news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.