Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth\u2019s Feb. 12 remarks to the Ukraine Defense Contact Group shook many Europeans into believing that America\u2019s commitment to the alliance is wavering dangerously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Hegseth stressed that the United States remains committed to NATO \u2013 \u201cfull stop\u201d \u2013 three points that he emphasized created greater doubts. The ball is now in Europe\u2019s court to address those three points with initiatives at the NATO summit, to be held in the Hague this June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If Europe responds positively, it can place NATO on a new healthy footing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, Hegseth reinforced President Trump\u2019s demand that Europeans spend 5% of GDP on defense. A \u201cStrategic Responsibility Initiative\u201d at the Summit should address this demand. While stronger military capabilities are the important outcome, politically this percentage has become a visible measure of whether Europe is sharing enough of NATO\u2019s burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NATO Europe in the aggregate now meets NATO\u2019s benchmark floor of 2% spending, although important outliers like Italy and Spain are not yet there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By comparison, the U.S. spends just under 3.5%. Reaching 5% for Europe could be a useful long term goal, which might allow Europe to defend itself without much U.S. assistance. But transitioning to that capability will take considerable time. Europe is nowhere near ready to defend itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A feasible goal for this Strategic Responsibility Initiative might be a European pledge to match in the aggregate the percentage of GDP that America spends on defense by the end of the decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spending at the 3.5% level, which NATO\u2019s leadership supports, would allow Europe to implement Supreme Allied Commander Europe\u2019s new defense plan for Europe. Accomplishing that by the end of the decade would also address Russia\u2019s expected military reconstitution after the Ukraine war ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Strategic Responsibility Initiative could also begin to address Trump\u2019s 5% demand by focusing on the most vulnerable front-line states. Trump has previously said he might not agree to defend nations who do not spend enough on their own defense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The three Baltic states plus Poland are the most vulnerable NATO countries to Russian aggression. Together these four states might take the 5% pledge at the Hague summit. Poland is nearly there. Lithuania has pledged to spend 5% soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Latvia and Estonia are not far behind and should be encouraged to make such a joint pledge, together setting a good example to the rest of Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second, Hegseth said robust security guarantees underpinned by capable peacekeeping forces are needed for Ukraine. But he made clear that they should not be provided under NATO auspices or by the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While he subsequently walked back a statement that Ukrainian membership in NATO was not a realistic outcome of negotiations, President Trump has also indicated that the U.S. was unlikely to support Ukrainian membership anytime soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump unfortunately seems determined to honor Putin\u2019s veto on NATO membership for Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several major European states have taken up the challenge. A second NATO summit initiative should be built around security guarantees for Ukraine. This might take the form of a coalition of the willing. But a much more effective mechanism would be a robust EU-led peacekeeping force, augmented by other key nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The EU has its own military command and experience in over 40 small overseas operations. This would be the EU\u2019s largest mission, but it would demonstrate Europe\u2019s willingness to defend its own interests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With such a deployment, the EU should also set aside complicated hurdles and rapidly embrace Ukrainian membership. That way the EU Article 42(7) mutual defense clause would extend to Ukraine, a linkage Russia would have to take seriously. Once this mechanism is in place, the U.S. should be encouraged to participate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Third, Hegseth stressed that the Trump administration would prioritize deterring war with China. Given China\u2019s aggressive military behavior in Asia and its rapid military modernization, deterring this peer competitor is not an unreasonable goal for the United States. But it need not come at the expense of instability and possible military miscalculation in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A third Hague Summit package \u2013 a NATO \u201cAsian Partnership Initiative\u201d \u2013 could make it clear to the Trump administration that NATO has a useful role in helping the United States deter Chinese aggression. Once this is recognized, the U.S. should be encouraged to retain a strong NATO alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2024 NATO summit in Washington took several steps in this direction. It declared China a \u201cdecisive enabler\u201d of Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine. It called China a systemic challenge to the Euro-Atlantic area. And it called the Into-Pacific region \u201cimportant\u201d to NATO\u2019s security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At The Hague, NATO needs to create specific actions to demonstrate NATO\u2019s willingness to deal with an aggressive China, short of an Article 5 commitment. It might declare that the Into-Pacific region is \u201cvital\u201d to NATO\u2019s security. It might create a formal NATO-Indo-Pacific Council linking America\u2019s European and Asian allies, with ongoing consultations at the political and military level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A new \u201ccoercion against one is coercion against all\u201d standard could underpin the new Council. It might make clear that a Chinese military attack on Taiwan would have catastrophic global consequences for China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
NATO might establish new intelligence sharing mechanisms with Asian partners. It might create liaison offices in Brussels, Tokyo, Seoul and Canberra. It might create a NATO Center of Excellence in Asia on economic security challenges. It might establish formal NATO freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Hegseth\u2019s remarks seemed at first to destabilize the Alliance, if Europe responds positively along the lines of the three summit initiatives discussed above, the net result could be a new and more stable Alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The outcome is now in Europe\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hans Binnendijk<\/b><\/i> is a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council. He previously served as NSC senior director for defense policy, director of NDU\u2019s Institute for National Strategic Studies, and acting director of the State Department\u2019s Policy Planning Staff.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniel S. Hamilton<\/b><\/i> is senior non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution and senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins SAIS. He served as deputy assistant secretary of State for Europe and associate director of the policy planning staff for two U.S. secretaries of State.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If Europe responds positively, it can place NATO on a new, healthy footing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":119378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":17,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["opinion"],"primary_category":"opinion"}}},"categories":[160,46,11,36,17],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2388,4583],"class_list":["post-69218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters","category-opinion"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"BW2OURZHQ5EMREGYNAL62LPEAE","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinion\/2025\/02\/18\/spending-troops-and-asia-three-ideas-for-europe-to-stabilize-nato\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n