Europe Should Boost Military Spending, Hegseth Says: Instead They Focus on Climate and Gender Issues

The administration of US President Donald Trump is considering withdrawing a significant number of American troops from Europe, a move that could potentially alter NATO’s defence balance amid rising global tensions. The plan emerged as US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth attended a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Belgium. On that occasion, Hegseth announced the Pentagon would review the deployment of US forces in Europe within the next six months. In addition to revealing the evaluation plan, Hegseth also launched sharp criticism at several European allies. He assessed that some NATO member states have not yet demonstrated adequate commitment to collective defence or support for United States military operations. According to Hegseth, Washington’s future financial contributions to NATO will increasingly depend on the seriousness of member states in increasing their defence budgets. He referred to the NATO target requiring member states to allocate up to five per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) to the defence sector by 2035. “Our annual contributions to NATO will depend on whether other countries meet their defence targets. If other allies fail to invest with the necessary urgency, our contributions will decrease,” Hegseth said as reported by Euronews on Thursday (19/6/2026). He also warned that Washington would closely monitor countries deemed not to be on the agreed path. Tensions escalated further when Hegseth accused several European countries of not providing sufficient support to the United States in the conflict with Iran. He specifically mentioned that Spain, Italy, and France did not provide access to their bases or airspace for US military operations. Conversely, Germany was cited as providing full access to the American military through Ramstein Air Base. However, relations between the two countries also heated up after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticised Washington’s war strategy against Iran. Shortly after the criticism emerged, Trump announced plans to withdraw approximately 5,000 US military personnel from Germany. In his speech in Brussels, Hegseth also accused European countries of being too focused on climate change issues, gender equality, and social programmes, while defence needs were deemed neglected.