Whether President Donald Trump’s unconventional diplomacy succeeds in furthering American interests and halting Russian aggression in Ukraine will be determined in the coming months. But it is already apparent that the president has the rapt attention of European leaders.
Even before last week’s uncomfortable exchange at the White House involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump’s pull-no-punches approach has forced Europe to reconsider its meager defense spending.
Late last month, for instance, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a planned increase in military outlays, from 2.3 percent of gross domestic product to 3 percent by 2030. The United States currently devotes about 3.4 percent of GDP to defense. “Across Europe, we must shoulder more of the burden now,” Starmer said last month, “because it is our burden to carry.”
French President Emmanual Macron also stated publicly that his nation will boost defense spending.
By insisting that Europe contribute more to its own long-term security needs, Trump has forced the European Union to consider a more coordinated approach to fending off its enemies.
“One option,” a recent Wall Street Journal report noted, “may be to share the burden through fresh borrowing by the EU as a whole, an approach that the bloc took during the pandemic. Indeed, there are good arguments for closer cooperation in defense at all levels, with centralized procurement likely to lower the cost of each piece of military equipment purchased by the member governments.”
A New York Times analysis echoed the thought. Europe “is now scrambling to expand its defense industries and make spending more efficient and collaborative,” the paper reported. One EU leader told the Journal, “Some mutualization of defense expenditure at the European level is a good idea if it allows for more efficient defense spending.”
That makes eminent sense, given that — even with economic stagnation on much of the continent due in part to the robust welfare states Europeans have built while scrimping on defense spending — Europe as a whole is far wealthier than Russia, with a GDP 10 times larger.
Trump’s efforts have also led European leaders to recognize that they need to beef up their contributions to Ukraine’s defense if they hope to hold off the Russian incursion. The United States has so far been the largest financial backer of Zelenskyy. Trump’s demand that Europe step up should not be controversial. “This is critical for Europeans,” one German think tank expert told the Times. “They don’t have a choice, because war is taking place on their own continent.”
Trump isn’t the first president to ask that Europe contribute a greater share to its own defense. But he’s the first to realize such dramatic results.
