The US has reportedly signaled to Europe that it wants European nations to keep purchasing US arms and not exclude US arms makers from European tenders.
The contradictory stance came as the Trump administration signaled reduced support for European defense, with Europe seeking to address the uncertainty via a massive defense hike – a historic €800 billion ($887 billion) – and increasing domestic arms production to bolster its collective security.
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Reuters, citing “five sources familiar with the matter,” said the Trump administration has signaled its desire via different channels.
The sources told Reuters that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio relayed that message to foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on March 25 during a meeting, with two sources telling Reuters that Rubio said exclusion of US arms makers would be perceived negatively by the US.
One unnamed State Department official told Reuters that Rubio would raise the US’s concerns this week during a meeting with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday.
Rubio reiterated US President Donald Trump’s call for fellow NATO members to boost their defense spending but reassured others of the US’s commitment to NATO at the meeting.
In response to a Reuters request for comments, a State Department spokesperson said Trump welcomed Europe’s bid to up its defense spending but warned about the exclusion of US defense firms in tenders.
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“Transatlantic defense industrial cooperation makes the Alliance stronger,” the spokesperson said.
To buy or not to buy US weapons, that’s the question
Some European nations have been looking at the US for advanced weaponry in past decades, and the recent move to bolster domestic production could be interpreted as a historic reversal of Europe’s defense structure, however difficult the path might be.
On the one hand, Europe has been catching up with less sophisticated weapons – such as artillery shell production – that have a significant impact on battlefields, as seen in Ukraine. However, there has also been a reliance on the US for other advanced weaponry that cannot be easily replaced.
Nineteen European countries operate the US-made Patriot missile defense system, according to Politico’s August 2024 report.
While Europe has the SAMP/T air defense system with comparable performance on paper, only France and Italy are operating the system, and they are less battle-proven than the Patriots.
Even though some nations have invested in domestic weapon development, the superior performance of advanced US weaponry, coupled with the nations’ desire to cut down costly research and development expenses, has led to Europe’s growing reliance on some US weapons.
For instance, the UK’s Trident nuclear weapon systems rely on the US for the missiles to deliver the nuclear warheads as they are built and maintained by the US despite being operationally independent.
The UK’s nuclear warheads were developed and maintained by the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE). Until 2021, the AWE was controlled by a joint US-UK group, with US defense firm Lockheed Martin having the main share, before it was returned directly under the British Ministry of Defence’s control.
Thirteen European nations – such as the UK and Germany – have also, in recent years, turned to the US for the F-35 fifth-generation stealth fighters due to a lack of alternatives, despite some having their joint fighter development programs such as the Eurofighter Typhoon.
The UK’s recent decision to acquire more F-35s as opposed to the jointly-developed but less advanced Eurofighter Typhoon is likely to irk Germany, one of the program’s partnering nations, according to military outlet Airforce Technology.
The decision also highlights the viability – or lack thereof – of transitioning to European arms due to the advanced performance of some US weapons.
That said, UK defense firms did contribute significantly to the F-35 program despite the aircraft’s US origins, and The Times, citing British military sources, said London has the confidence to operate the fighters independently of the US regardless of Washington’s positions.