{"id":6549,"date":"2026-07-07T08:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T08:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/6549\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T08:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T08:27:08","slug":"trump-continues-to-whipsaw-europe-over-us-troop-strength-crisis-weaponry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/6549\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump continues to whipsaw Europe over US troop strength, crisis weaponry."},"content":{"rendered":"

Meanwhile, Russia continues to bombard Ukraine\u2019s <\/a>civilian populations, further unnerving NATO\u2019s European members, even as Trump wants to focus on the war in Iran.<\/p>\n

Get The Gavel<\/p>\n

A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr.<\/p>\n

If Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth\u2019s 12-minute lecture<\/a> to fellow NATO defense ministers last month is a preview, this isn\u2019t going to be about champagne toasts. Hegseth called the alliance a \u201cpaper tiger\u201d and bemoaned the way its nations ran their internal affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of tanks and fighters and air defenses, the focus has been on gender equity and climate change and defense austerity,\u201d Hegseth said.<\/a><\/p>\n

And though he praised those nations that have upped their contributions to the alliance in recent years, in compliance with Trump\u2019s demands Hegseth also berated some of our allies for their failure to support the administration\u2019s war on Iran. When the United States asked to use European bases or ports in the conduct of that war, \u201ctoo many of our allies said no, or tried to drown us in arcane legal debates, or criticized us publicly for doing what they aren\u2019t prepared or able to do themselves. It was shameful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Spain<\/a> did indeed close its airspace to American jets headed into the Iran war zone. Britain<\/a> allowed the use of its bases for only \u201ca limited defensive purpose.\u201d <\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s refusal <\/a>to allow American bombers to take off from there exacerbated Trump\u2019s ongoing feud <\/a>with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. <\/p>\n

Hegseth left no doubt that there would be payback and in that speech announced a six-month Pentagon review \u201cthat will examine America\u2019s force posture and basing in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is against that fraught backdrop that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visited the White House days after Hegseth\u2019s speech in an attempt to calm those troubled waters ahead of the summit with a collection of charts touting the \u201cTrump Trillion\u201d<\/a> that the president\u2019s bullying of his NATO allies has managed to secure in increased European defense spending. (Of course, Vladimir Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine had more than a little to do with Europe\u2019s newfound focus on defense as well.)<\/p>\n

But Trump was his usual petulant self with Rutte, insisting he was only attending the NATO summit \u201cout of respect to President Erdogan,\u201d who is hosting the meeting in Ankara. Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s autocratic leadership, and his continuing crackdown<\/a> on opponents, may make him a problematic NATO member, but he\u2019s apparently a Trump kinda guy.<\/p>\n

As for his European allies, Trump told Rutte<\/a>, \u201cWe don\u2019t need their money, we don\u2019t need anything. We have the most powerful military in the world by far, but I just want loyalty.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive us a little nudge, give us a little kiss,\u201d he added, obviously still smarting from NATO\u2019s near-total rejection of any role in the Iran war. \u201cWe don\u2019t want much. And they say, \u2018No, we can\u2019t do it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The real threat to the alliance isn\u2019t what happens in Ankara over the next several days and whether Trump has another of his meltdowns, but the results of that Pentagon review and what it will mean for the future security of Europe.<\/p>\n

Even Alice Rufo, director general for international relations and strategy at the French defense ministry, indicated that the European ministers\u2019 request for an orderly reduction of US military forces in Europe is a modest one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like the US shift to take place in an orderly, coordinated, and efficient manner to avoid creating dilemmas for Europeans,\u201d she told Politico<\/a>.<\/p>\n

European leaders have already put up with months of fits and starts over the stationing of US troops, depending on presidential whim. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz\u2019s criticism of the war in Iran<\/a> brought an immediate order from Trump for the withdrawal of some 5,000 US troops<\/a> from Germany. The deployment of 5,000 US troops to Poland<\/a> was halted, then days later the order was reversed by the president, who announced it on Truth Social, framing it as recognition of the election of his endorsed candidate Karol Nawrocki as president.<\/p>\n

The erratic nature of US troop deployments is making long-term planning by European leaders that much more difficult.<\/p>\n

But the real hit to the NATO alliance \u2014 already telegraphed by the Pentagon to NATO officials \u2014 is a cut in the weaponry<\/a> the United States had previously committed to in the event of a war or crisis: the fighter jets, strategic bombers, destroyers, submarines, tanker aircraft, and armed drones. The number of fighter jets<\/a> is expected to be cut by a third, strategic bombers by half, and submarines cut entirely, Der Spiegel <\/a>reported<\/a>,<\/a> citing remarks by US official Alexander Velez-Green during a closed-door meeting in May with NATO officials.<\/p>\n

That is already a fait accompli \u2014 and one the alliance will have to deal with \u2014 even as it wrestles with US demands on everyday, non-emergency burden sharing.<\/p>\n

NATO was forged in a post-war era as \u201ca shield against aggression,\u201d as President Harry Truman<\/a> said. Its members\u2019 pledge<\/a> \u201cto safeguard the freedom and security\u201d and ensure \u201cthe collective defense of all Allies, against all threats, from all directions\u201d still has meaning even in an increasingly complex world. That must not be allowed to fall victim to presidential petulance. <\/p>\n

Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n