EU leaders meeting in Brussels faced the challenge of balancing conciliatory and defiant messages to the US amidst escalating tensions. President Trump's threats to NATO support and aggressive trade policies dominated the discussion, pushing EU nations to increase defense spending to meet his demands. While EU states have made progress in boosting military expenditures, they struggled to agree on further commitments like joint debt bonds.
The US president’s threats to support for Nato and his aggressive trade diplomacy leave no-one in any doubt that he is prepared to use leverage
Ukraine has concentrated minds on shoring up the continent’s defences and pushed states towards accepting defence spending increases by individual member states to Trump’s ambitious 5 per cent of GDP. Frontline state Poland, desperate to maintain US engagement, has made it the central thrust of its EU presidency.
EU states have increased military spending to €330 billion in 2024, up a third since 2021. And there are promises to go further but, one suspects, Monday’s agreement to changeto ensure defence spending is not counted against deficit targets is unlikely to satisfy Trump. And the leaders were not able to agree on raising joint debt bonds to finance more defence spending.
Natospending TRUMP EU POLICY DEFENSE TRADE
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