Europe’s Race to Remilitarize Isn’t Just About Trump
NATO’s European members have agreed to massively hike defense spending. The move conforms to Donald Trump’s demands — but also reflects a German-led bid to revive its economy through massive investment in the military.
A soldier stands next to a Panther KF51 main battle tank from the Rheinmetall armaments group during a tour of the Rheinmetall plant in Unterlüß, Lower Saxony, Germany. (Julian Stratenschulte / picture alliance via Getty Images)
There is an apparent paradox in Europe’s new militarized posture. On the one hand, the call to boost military spending has supposedly been motivated — in German chancellor Friedrich Merz’s words — by the need to “achieve independence from the USA.”
When he made these comments just after his election victory in February, Merz claimed that Donald Trump had shown that Washington had grown “indifferent to the fate of Europe.” In this telling, the United States had long provided a security umbrella over “the old world,” which was now being removed — requiring European countries to take responsibility themselves.
Yet this striving for European defense sovereignty also stands in stark contrast to the mood of last week’s NATO summit. In fact, the jamboree at The Hague may have been the most openly deferential to American power in the alliance’s history.
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