{"id":38433,"date":"2026-05-11T16:33:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T16:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/38433\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T16:33:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T16:33:26","slug":"a-us-withdrawal-from-nato-could-make-europe-great-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/38433\/","title":{"rendered":"A US withdrawal from NATO could Make Europe Great Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

On May 1, the Trump\u00a0administration announced<\/a>\u00a0it would withdraw\u00a05,000 troops now stationed in Germany, reducing the U.S. footprint\u00a0with\u00a0a key NATO ally.\u00a0This decision, which came soon after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized\u00a0the war in Iran, is\u00a0just\u00a0the latest move<\/a> in President Trump\u2019s strategy\u00a0of\u00a0weakening\u00a0his country\u2019s commitment to NATO.<\/p>\n

A senior defense official\u00a0said in comments to The Washington Post that it is intended to promote<\/a> \u201ca Europe-led NATO.\u201d\u00a0The troop withdrawal from Germany follows comments\u00a0Trump made last month\u00a0when he told<\/a>\u00a0a British newspaper, The Telegraph, \u201cI am strongly considering pulling out of NATO.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump labeled the alliance \u201ca paper tiger\u201d and added, \u201cPutin knows that too, by the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u00a0also\u00a0communicated his displeasure during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on April 8. Politico quoted a White House statement<\/a> released after they met\u00a0stating\u00a0that Trump\u00a0\u201chas zero expectations for NATO at this point.\u201d But although\u00a0he\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0seem to realize it, the biggest loser in the disintegration of NATO would be the U.S., not Europe<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In fact, it offers European nations a chance to develop and assert their own considerable power on the world stage.\u00a0But all this won\u2019t\u00a0happen overnight<\/a>, and it\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0happen without determined political leadership across the continent. Europeans need to begin<\/a>\u00a0that process now, weaning themselves from dependence\u00a0on the U.S.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0the last\u00a075\u00a0years\u00a0or so,\u00a0seemingly nothing\u00a0could destroy NATO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0not even the end of the Cold War. After World War II, it presented the Soviet Union with a united transatlantic West committed to collective defense,<\/a> ready to treat an attack on one as an attack against all. When the Soviet Union collapsed, NATO survived and even thrived.\u00a0Instead of falling apart, the anti-communist alliance reinvented itself<\/a>\u00a0and became one of the pillars supporting transitions to democracy and a\u00a0free-market economy in Central and Eastern Europe. <\/p>\n

In the 1990s, post-communist countries simultaneously sought membership in NATO and the\u00a0European Union. Eastern\u00a0Europeans spoke of \u201cEuro-Atlantic integration<\/a>,\u201d a notion that reinforced the compatibility of\u00a0their values and commitments<\/a>\u00a0with those of\u00a0the\u00a0EU\u00a0and NATO.<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0Trump\u2019s\u00a0two terms in the White House have taken\u00a0the world in a different direction.<\/a> Today, the survival of NATO\u2019s trans-Atlantic structure\u00a0is no longer certain.<\/p>\n

If it falls apart, Europe itself would be an enormously strong, global power<\/a>. Its combined population would be much larger than that of the U.S., its gross national product would be around\u00a0$17 trillion, and\u00a0it\u00a0would have the second-largest military budget in the world.<\/p>\n

Europe should not have to live at the whim of a nation led by a\u00a0mercurial and unreliable\u00a0Trump. It\u00a0needs\u00a0to\u00a0push back against the president in the only way he understands\u00a0\u2014 with tough rhetoric.<\/p>\n

Since the U.S.\u00a0went to war with Iran,\u00a0European leaders, not just Germany\u2019s Merz, have shown a new and promising willingness to\u00a0do so<\/a>. French President Emmanuel\u00a0Macron and others have already\u00a0shown some spine by at least initially rejecting\u00a0Trump\u2019s call<\/a> to forcibly seize the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

European leaders have also been thinking about a post-NATO Europe. For example, after his Conservative Party won the national election\u00a0last year, Merz said<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0it might be necessary \u201cto establish an independent European defense capability.\u201d<\/p>\n

European allies already are remilitarizing<\/a>. They have massively increased defense spending and are working toward further integration of military policy at the supranational level in the European Union.<\/p>\n

Formerly neutral countries Finland and Sweden came off the fence and joined NATO in 2023 and 2024 after Russia invaded Ukraine. Some countries are considering reinstituting mandatory military service.<\/a><\/p>\n

As we have argued before<\/a>, a rearmed Europe is a mixed blessing. But Trump is really leaving no choice.<\/p>\n

Although the parallels are by no means exact, Europe has already had a preview of what happens when one nation decides to go its own way. When the United Kingdom left the European Union in 2016, the union adapted.\u00a0The Guardian quotes the European Policy Centre\u2019s Georg Riekeles, who said that after Brexit<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cThe EU as a whole \u2026 showed the capacity to rally together around an existential issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added:\u00a0\u201cWe miss the British, but\u00a0probably less\u00a0than we thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Europe,\u00a0without the U.S.\u00a0in NATO,\u00a0might find itself saying a similar thing in the\u00a0not-too-distant future. America\u2019s formal or informal disengagement from NATO offers Europe the chance to assume a greater role on the international stage,<\/a>\u00a0in a world order likely to be more fragmented.<\/p>\n

It is unfortunate for the U.S.\u00a0that the president and his administration seem willing to let Europe go its own way.\u00a0But it\u00a0may be just the incentive Europe needs.<\/p>\n

Austin Sarat<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College. Ruxandra Paul is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Amherst College and an affiliate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

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