Pete Hegseth, the Trump administration’s defense secretary, today renewed his attack on Washington’s European allies, accusing them of ignoring calls to bolster their defenses “for too long” and calling on them to “stop preaching.”
During his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue conference, he also warned that “important decisions” on security in Europe are coming.
“When our interests converge, we act together with determination. When our interests diverge, we adjust pragmatically, without drama and without preaching. I think Western Europe could learn a lesson.”
Repeating the Trump administration’s highly critical positions towards the Europeans, Hegceth accused European countries of having long adopted “a hollow, globbish rhetoric on the issue of a rules-based international order while European capitals were opening their borders wide open and emptying their armies of content.”
“Europe and NATO have important decisions to make and you will know them soon,”
“For a long time, calls for our European allies to spend more on their defense have been dead letter. Eventually they are beginning to make up for lost ground.”
Donald Trump is demanding that Europeans take on more of the burden in terms of European security. He has lobbied for, and finally got a commitment, to increase to 5 percent of GDP the defense spending of NATO countries and intends to reduce the U.S. military presence in Europe.
The atmosphere has grown heavy in recent weeks due to the refusal of European countries to support Trump in the war he launched, without any consultation or briefing, against Iran.
