Since President Donald Trump‘s first term, one of Europe‘s central objectives has been to demonstrate that it is willing to meet its spending commitments and shoulder greater responsibility for Europe’s continental security. To give credit where credit is due, Europe’s NATO members have now stepped up to the plate under immense dual pressure: both from Washington, in terms of pushing allies to increase defense spending, and from Russia, which remains the only real threat to the European continent.

Unfortunately, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte‘s recent statement that Europeans should “keep on dreaming” if they think Europe can defend itself without the United States risks undoing years of solid progress. 

Almost all allies are now meeting their defense spending commitments of 2% of GDP on defense, reaffirmed at the Wales Summit in 2014, after years of inconsistent follow-through and delayed implementation. At the most recent NATO Summit in the Hague in June 2025, all allies agreed to an even more ambitious new........

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