Last week we heard both Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance making references to Europe “freeloading” on defense and security protection from the United States. There is certainly evidence that such statements have merit, and we have heard this from President Trump and others for ten years.
While America has embraced the responsibility of protecting Europe for generations, the policy that made perfect sense after World War II and during the Cold War is outdated. With western Europeans devastated after the war the United States was clearly the best hope for protecting the West from potential Soviet aggression. As European economies recovered, Japan and Germany surged to become the second and third largest economies in the world.
While the United Kingdom maintained a powerful military in spite of shrinking economically, the rest of Europe failed to contribute and rarely met the 2% of GDP defense spending commitment required by NATO. While America was able to protect the European allies, she faces two enormous challenges: unsustainable debt and the pivot to Asia.
European freeloading on US security and trade is both unfair and unsustainable - Greg Swenson
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Thanks to the reckless spending by the Biden administration, adding $11 trillion to the national debt which now stands at $36 trillion. We now spend more on annual debt service ($1t) than for defense and healthcare. Biden cut defense spending by 3% in real terms every year. Concurrently the US has debt-financed the EU trade surplus, currently at $180 billion annually. This is unsustainable. The defense of the west requires contributions from all of the allies, especially the largest economies. The US will continue to lead, but it needs support.
President Trump met with the typical hostile reaction from the diplomatic class and leftist media in Europe when he challenged the Germans in 2018, yet he was absolutely right. While Germany happily purchased fossil fuels from Russia they failed to address their irresponsible attitude toward defense. At the same time they decimated their own economy with reckless “net zero” policies. This continues in spite of the Ukraine conflict. Last year the EU purchased $22 billion of coal, oil and gas from Putin, while contributing just $18b to Ukraine. Europe is funding both sides of the stalemate.
Joe Biden's reckless spending added $11 trillion to the national debt.
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The United States has accounted for roughly 25 percent of global GDP since the 1880s, while the G7 has declined from 70 percent to 40 in the last twenty years. It’s not that the US does not wish to protect our allies, but the growth of China economically and militarily poses a great risk to US and European security.
For 80 years the American policy was to maintain the ability to face a two front war at all times. President Obama reduced that capability to one and half, and Biden to one. We need our European allies to develop deterrence in the West, so we can pivot to the Pacific.
The freeloading on security and trade is not simply unfair, it is unsustainable given the debt crisis. The US taxpayer has been funding the European welfare states for generations. Europeans enjoy their annual six-week holiday, free healthcare and an out of control welfare system, while America provides security and funds trade deficits with the EU with borrowed money. It’s time for Europe to take responsibility- liberate their economies, reform the welfare state and contribute to defence.
