Europe Ramps Up Defense Spending to Back Ukraine Amid Trump Threats

The European Defense Leaders are gathering in Paris to discuss how they will guarantee security to Ukraine as Europe steps up to the plate after years of being dependent on the U.S.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, addressed the gathering on Tuesday of 30 European countries and NATO members after America’s new policy, “America First,” roused the Europeans to action.

Macron told Le Figaro, a French newspaper, that it is time for France to increase its defense expenditures from 2% of GDP to 3.5%. This would amount to about EUR 30 billion per year.

The details of any peacekeeping forces are in flux. However, some officials have said that they expect to see a deterrence force focused on protecting critical infrastructure as opposed to a blockade across the frontlines.

Europeans were shocked last week when the U.S. announced that it would stop all intelligence and aid sharing with Ukraine. However, this pause has been lifted after Ukraine accepted a ceasefire for 30 days. The focus is now on Russia, to see whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will accept the agreement, reached after U.S.-mediated talks on Tuesday in Jeddah.

After a ceasefire, the U.S. insists that Europe is responsible for providing military support to Ukraine to deter Russia. Donald Trump flirted at the notion of no longer protecting European nations from NATO Article 5 obligations if they refused to spend on defense.

This new push for Europe to defend itself was welcome news for NATO’s Eastern flank, where small nations had been beating out larger European countries in terms of defense expenditure as a percentage of GDP for many years.

Giedrimas Jellinskas is the chairman of Lithuania’s National Security Committee.

He said, “Europeans must think carefully about the type of soldiers they will send to Ukraine. Europeans must take the majority of our security now. Showing goodwill is important. You need numbers to go along with your goodwill. What kind of support will we need from America? How many soldiers can we produce, how many can we raise?”

Trump said, “I won’t provide any security guarantees above and beyond what I have already stated, at the first Cabinet meeting of his presidency on February 26. We’re going to have Europe take care of that.”

A French official revealed to the Associated Press that the United States, NATO’s strongest member militarily, was not invited to Paris because European nations wished to demonstrate their ability to take on a major part of the responsibility of protecting Ukraine after a ceasefire is implemented.

Jeglinskas, however, said that Europe must accede to the demands of the U.S. to invest more in its defenses because it relies on the U.S. to provide air defences such as the Patriot missile.

“Show me an alternative. There isn’t one.”

Elon Musk, a top Trump adviser, posted over the weekend on X about how the U.S. should “really” leave NATO. Elon Musk wrote that it was “not logical” for America to be paying for Europe’s defense.

“It’s common sense, right,” Trump told reporters of the NATO alliance last week. “If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them. No, I’m not going to defend them.”

Jeglinskas stated that during his private meetings, U.S. officials expressed the commitment of America to Article 5 “as strong as ever.”

Jonathan Bass is a foreign affairs expert and CEO of Argent LNG. He said that Trump sometimes goes overboard to convince people. The fact that Trump went to the point of what was considered insane (the Europeans) took him seriously and did what they had to do.

Lithuania currently spends 4% of its budget on defense. It plans to increase that number to 5-6% next year. Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene said her country plans to give U.S. manufacturers more money in the “coming years”, “at least 8 billion dollars” for a boost to defenses.

She said that the possibility of Russian aggression extending beyond Ukraine and into Baltic states like Lithuania “worries” her.

The military is a key component of the defense industry. We are building defense factories and facilities and acquiring weapons and ammo.

Since the beginning of the conflict, Europe has provided Ukraine with around $139 billion worth of aid. The U.S. offered about $128 billion.

Last week, the European Union proposed an 841 billion dollar plan to “rearm Europe,” which included a $158 million emergency loan proposal for arming European capabilities in areas such as air defense and ammunition. This plan calls for the lifting of strict limits on debt that were agreed upon by the EU for its defense budget.

Last week, Ursula von der Leyen, European commissioner, said: “This is an important moment for Europe, and we’re ready to take action.”

Sakaliene stated that “strengthening of the northeastern border” was a “joint objective,” and this could include stationing hypersonic weapons aimed at Russia in Baltic countries like Lithuania.