Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday that the Pentagon will spend the next six months reviewing the U.S. force posture in Europe, with the outcome tied to how quickly European governments take responsibility for their own defense. He also criticized allies that refused U.S. forces access to bases on the continent during the recent war with Iran, calling that refusal “shameful.”
The review puts a public deadline on a transatlantic shift that the Trump administration has been signaling for months. The U.S. notified allies on June 3 that, in a crisis, it would no longer commit an aircraft carrier and support ships, aerial refueling planes and dozens of fighter jets to Europe, NBC News reported, and NATO’s American supreme allied commander is drafting backup plans to cover the gap.
What was said
“This will be a real review. It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe,” Hegseth told the ministers. He framed the audit in pass-fail terms. "It's a review that some countries will fail, and others will pass with flying colors," he told the ministers, in remarks reported by Reuters and carried by CNBC.
Hegseth said the United States plans to spend $1.5 trillion on its own defense in 2027 to build what he called an “arsenal of freedom” that “first and foremost protects America and American interests but also backstops the strength of NATO and our allies.” He called for what he labeled a “NATO 3.0” alliance, which he described as “a real hard-line military alliance that has real military capabilities capable of deterring right here on the continent and taking the lead for the conventional defense of Europe”.
The Iran complaint
Hegseth said European governments that withheld base access and overflight rights during U.S. strikes on Iran had endangered American service members. “These allies, they put America’s sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, at risk by denying them the predictable access, basing and overflight that never should have been in question at all,” he said. He did not name the countries.
In dollar terms the United States remains by far NATO’s biggest defense spender, CNBC reported, at an estimated $845 billion last year against $559 billion for the rest of the alliance combined. Hegseth said in May that Washington expects allies to commit a minimum of 3.5 percent of GDP to defense. NATO members agreed last year, after pressure from President Trump, to push spending toward 5 percent of GDP by 2035.
Berlin signs on
One of the largest European militaries publicly aligned itself with the U.S. demand this week. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said Germany should build the strongest conventional army in Europe, a goal Berlin’s ambassador to Washington, Jens Hanefeld, told Fox News Digital is now backed by a new German military strategy. “Germany is stepping up — we heard the call!” Hanefeld said. He cited Russia’s war in Ukraine as having “shaken old certainties in Europe”.
The pushback
Allies and former U.S. officials reading the same announcement see a unilateral drawdown rather than a partnership reset. NATO’s supreme allied commander, an American, is already working on backup plans to defend Europe after the June 3 U.S. signal that it would no longer provide certain warships, refueling aircraft and fighters in a crisis, NBC News reported. The Trump administration argues the shift is necessary to keep enough forces in reserve for a possible conflict with China in the Indo-Pacific. Europeans and Canada, NBC reported, are still trying to work out how to plug the gap, a process that turns on whether the six-month review codifies the June 3 cuts or walks them back.
The review is scheduled to conclude in December. Hegseth did not say what specific forces, bases or commands are in scope, or whether any troop movements will wait for its findings.