It is clear that the Trump administration expects much more from allies and partners in Europe – is the Indo Pacific next? ⬇️

Vice President JD Vance wasn’t the only US official causing waves in Europe recently as Trump 2.0 resets the state of play in global affairs. The BBC has described Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s visit to Europe as setting out a hard line on European Defence and NATO:

“Speaking at a defence summit in Brussels, Hegseth said the US would no longer ‘tolerate an imbalanced relationship’ with its allies and called on Nato members to spend much more on defence.”

Both Vice President Vance and Secretary Hegseth displayed a direct, no beating around the bush approach. The US is taking a less diplomatic approach to allies and partners still collecting a peace dividend or speaking loudly while carrying a small stick. While it may cause consternation for the European political class and technocrats, a fair assessment is that Europe is still too slow to re-arm and revitalise the industrial base.

Secretary Hegseth has also made a point to encourage NATO members who are leaning into the challenge of rebuilding military capability and industrial capacity. Defense News covered Secretary Hegseth’s visit to Poland – a country now spending close to 5% of GDP on Defence and building land forces that will set the standard for the rest of Europe to follow:

“I do want to emphasize that it’s quite intentional that our first European bilateral is right here, in Poland. The symbolism is not lost. In fact, it is intentional,” Hegseth said at a joint press conference with Kosiniak-Kamysz. “We see Poland as the model ally on the continent, willing to invest not just in their defense, but in our shared defense, and the defense of the continent.”

As RUSI’s Jack Watling said in a short response to Secretary Hegseth’s remarks, the pressure is shifting from militaries who can only do so much within current funding envelopes. Jack states ‘the real question put not to the Ministries of Defence around Europe but to our Treasuries is whether we are serious about our own Defence’. There is only so much that can be done without significant increases in both the quantity and quality of Defence expenditure.

While the Defence and National Security attention is still diverted to Europe, it can only be a matter of time before the Trump administration starts to reconsider the current state of play in the Indo-Pacific. Allies and partners like Japan, Australia, South Korea and Taiwan could well be asked to bare a greater share of the burden in the near future.

Food for thought.

📸 via Defense News