Hegseth orders review of US forces in Europe after rebuking NATO allies

NATO allies agreed at the 2014 Wales Summit to move towards spending 2% of GDP on defence. At the June 2025 Hague Summit, NATO says they replaced that benchmark with a commitment to invest 5% annually by 2035, comprising at least 3.5% for core defence and up to 1.5% for security-related expenditure. Belgium’s Strategic Vision 2025 set a domestic trajectory of 2% from 2025 and 2.5% in 2034, subject to later adjustment. In January 2026, the US National Defense Strategy called for European allies to assume primary responsibility for Europe’s conventional defence while Washington provided more limited critical support.

Washington is shifting more responsibility to Europe as US strategy prioritises homeland defence and competition in the Indo-Pacific. Europe seeks greater military capacity without losing the American conventional and nuclear backing central to NATO deterrence. Russia stands to benefit if that transition creates temporary gaps or political division, while the Iran dispute demonstrates how conflicts beyond NATO territory can spill into the transatlantic bargain.

Hegseth triggered the story by announcing the review during the final NATO defence-ministerial meeting before the July Ankara Summit. His intervention followed allied restrictions on US access for attacks on Iran and turned a longstanding burden-sharing dispute into a time-limited assessment of America’s European deployment.