{"id":38823,"date":"2020-02-15T11:31:52","date_gmt":"2020-02-15T11:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/15\/europeans-crank-up-defense-spending-amid-doubts-over-us-backing\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:06:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:06:37","slug":"europeans-crank-up-defense-spending-amid-doubts-over-us-backing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/munich-security-conference\/2020\/02\/15\/europeans-crank-up-defense-spending-amid-doubts-over-us-backing\/","title":{"rendered":"Europeans crank up defense spending amid doubts over US backing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MUNICH \u2013 European nations are spending more on defense as they harbor doubts about America’s commitment to the continent despite the US troop presence here, according to a new study by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Countries here spent $289 billion in 2019, which is 4.2 percent more than in 2018. Within that budget, the share of new investments grew to 23.1 percent from 19.8 percent, analysts wrote in their annual study on global defense capabilities, dubbed \u201cMilitary Balance 2020\u201d and released at the Munich Security Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clocking in at 4 percent, global defense spending saw a similar increase, the largest in ten years. Nations are spending more because they have recovered from the financial crisis and due to what IISS director-general John Chipman dubbed \u201csharpening threat perceptions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Europe, the main worry is Russia, especially on the eastern flank. The Pentagon in response has shored up its troop presence on the continent following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trans-Atlantic relationship has turned somewhat icy since President Donald Trump took office, however. Trump has repeatedly claimed, in strong terms, that Europe is taking advantage of the United Stated on defense and trade. Those proclamations are viewed by many here as part of a pattern in Washington that eschews multilateralism as an organizing principle of the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that context, the new study argues, the U.S. troop presence may be losing its shine as a manifestation of America’s bond with Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same logic also applies elsewhere on the globe, according to Chipman. \u201cWithin NATO and beyond, the arrival of additional US personnel and equipment is not necessarily sufficient anymore to dispel allies’ and partners’ concerns over US strategy, commitment and engagement, or wholly deter opponents,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\t