Pentagon asks Europe to invest in own defense, warns ‘US presence won’t last forever’
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has criticized the European member states of NATO for not spending enough in the military sector, saying the future presence of US forces in Europe is not guaranteed.
“Now is the time to invest, because you can’t make an assumption that America’s presence will last forever,” Hegseth told reporters after a meeting with Poland’s Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz in Warsaw on Friday.
The remarks came a day after a NATO meeting of defense ministers, during which the Pentagon chief accused European states of treating the States as a “sucker” when it came to defense.
"Make no mistake, President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into 'Uncle Sucker,'" Hegseth stressed.
In Washington, President Donald Trump has long called for the European states to dedicate a larger share of their GDP to military spending.
However, increasing military spending and manpower might prove difficult for many European states as they face budgetary and population problems.
In 2023, the EU’s government deficit to GDP ratio increased to 3.5%, compared to 3.2% in 2022.
Another issue faced by many European countries is the ever-decreasing population pool for military recruitment.
Due to decades of sub-replacement birth rates, European countries are facing a shrinking fighting-age population, which is showing its effects in military affairs.
In 2014, the British army announced that it will increase the upper age limit for the army reserve from 43 to 52.
Since the beginning of his second presidential term, Trump has either cancelled military and civilian aid to other countries around the world or threatened to do so.
The only exception to this policy has been Israel, which has just received an additional one-billion-dollar military assistance pledge from the White House.
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