Europe has replaced most U.S. cuts within NATO, top Commander says

Trump’s rhetoric toward NATO since his return to the White House has unnerved allies and prompted a rethink of defence spending in Europe. Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images

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European NATO allies have mostly replaced the assets that the United States has cut from its rescue plans in case of a war in Europe, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe Sir John Stringer said in an interview.

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Stringer made the assurance to Bloomberg Television ahead of the alliance’s summit in Ankara next week, at which allies will try to smooth over recent announcements by the U.S. signalling that it is pivoting away from the continent.

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“European allies have definitely stepped up in terms of backfilling the adjustment in the U.S. forces in Europe,”  said Stringer, adding this was a demonstration of “a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO.”

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The U.S. recently announced massive cuts to the forces it would send to Europe in case of war or crisis, prompting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s military command to ask European countries to make the forces they hadn’t yet committed to the alliance known.

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Stringer, a former Royal Air Force fighter pilot, said that in the categories in which Europe couldn’t provide equivalent forces, they’d be looking to match the effect with different assets.

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Delegates attend the meeting of North Atlantic Council in Defense Ministers at the NATO headquarters in June. Photographer: Omar Havana/Getty Images

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Burden-sharing and burden-shifting “is now being done in a sensible, proportionate way, absolutely driven by military logic,” he said, emphasizing the preparedness of European allies for the shift in U.S. priorities and commitments.

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The need to rebalance has been a factor for years and Europeans have stepped up, he said.

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Trump’s rhetoric toward NATO since his return to the White House has unnerved allies and prompted a rethink of defence spending in Europe.

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shocked allies at NATO headquarters in June by announcing a six-month review of the U.S. forces in Europe, a signal that more cuts may be ahead.

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“In the air and maritime domain, Europeans can and have stepped up” and even gone beyond 100 per cent, said Colonel Martin L. O’Donnell, spokesperson at NATO’s military command. In certain cases, European allies have the same kit or better equipment than the U.S. inventory, he added, citing the example of a type of F-16 fighter jet to be received by Bulgaria.

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US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during the North Atlantic Council meeting of Defence Ministers in Brussels in June. Photographer: Omar Havana/Getty Images

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Stringer was appointed as NATO’s second in command of operations in Europe this year as the alliance grapples with the war in Ukraine on its borders and an increasingly isolationist U.S.

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Asked about the recent resignation of British Defence Secretary John Healey over what he said was inadequate spending by the United Kingdom, Stringer said that all “all the nations, all 32 agreed that they would get to 3.5 per cent by 2035 and have a credible path to get there.”

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“Nobody gets an opt out on that one,” he said, referring to NATO’s target for governments to spend at least 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product on core defence. “That’s what we agreed and that obviously includes the U.K.”

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Areas of investment announced by the U.K. in recent weeks are “absolutely aligned with where NATO sees our forces needing to go to be able to be credible in deterring and defending the billion people under the NATO umbrella,” he said.

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“NATO will expect all nations, including the U.K., to live by their commitments,” he said.

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