For nearly a decade, Europe has done practically everything the United States under President Donald Trump has spent years demanding. It has increased defence spending year after year. It has hardened borders, both external and internal. It has tightened asylum rules and struck deals with authoritarian governments to prevent migrants from reaching European shores.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the continent has embarked on its most intensive rearmament effort in generations. Yet none of this has earned Europe praise in Washington. Instead, Trump’s new national security doctrine depicts Europe as weak and unreliable.

Why does compliance not have the effect European leaders expect? Even when demands for more tanks, missiles and border walls are met, why is it not good enough? The answer does not lie in budget allocations or policy tools but in worldviews.

Europe does not share Trump’s understanding of what prejudices (kinder people may say ‘values’) should underpin Western power — and by extension, what security means. So, for Trump, Europe will always fall short, no matter how big and strong its armies become or how firmly it closes its borders.

The European Union and its member states have increased military expenditure for ten straight years. The war in Ukraine accelerated the trend dramatically. In 2025, European defence spending is expected to reach more than two per cent of GDP on average, meeting NATO’s original benchmark. Investments in equipment, ammunition and drones are surging.

Poland has become one of the highest spenders. France and Germany are preparing multi-billion-euro procurement drives. The European Commission has launched programmes worth hundreds of billions to rebuild a........

© National Herald