President Donald Trump has long called on other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to pull their weight, as the U.S. continues to contribute a disproportionate amount to the maintenance of the coalition.
This week, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth doubled down on that message during an appearance at a summit in Belgium.
As the Daily Caller reported:
“Our allies must step up,” Hegseth said regarding NATO allies at the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in the Defense Ministers’ Session in Brussels. This demand was made as the U.S. military continues to pull military assets from Europe as it looks toward the Middle East and Asia.
ADVERTISEMENTThese demands have been made for years in both Trump administrations, and even during the Cold War, Hegseth said during his remarks at the meeting.
“President Trump has been very clear on this point for many years, and over two administrations, and for too long, NATO has been a paper tiger and a one-way street,” Hegseth said during the meeting. “Europe was not supposed to be a dependency of the United States. That’s not what Winston Churchill or Charles de Gaulle or Konrad Adenauer [former German chancellor] wanted or expected. No, Europe was supposed to be a military power allied with a strong America.”
“President Trump has made his disappointment with NATO and other allies clear, and he has consistently said that Europe must take greater responsibility for its own defense,” White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “President has effectively restored America’s standing on the world stage and strengthened relationships abroad – but he simultaneously will never allow the United States to be treated unfairly and taken advantage of by so-called ‘allies.’”
Clips of his recent remarks have drawn considerable engagement on social media:
That is our great Pete Hegseth laying down the law to@NATO
to either play ball with the USA or suffer the consequences of your Cowardness!— KAG (@KAG2014196) June 18, 2026
Cut ✂️ them OFF… and vehemently PROTECT HOME, AMERICA 🇺🇸.
— Tracey Johnson (@mommiTraC) June 19, 2026
.@SECWAR “Europe was NOT supposed to be a dependency of the United States…
Europe was supposed to be a military power allied with a STRONG AMERICA—this is the essence of NATO 1.0.” pic.twitter.com/P3oQhgepWp
— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) June 18, 2026
Here’s what NBC News added:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at NATO allies Thursday, announcing a six-month Pentagon review of American forces in Europe that will depend on how fast they take responsibility for their own security.
“This will be a real review. It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe,” he told his NATO counterparts in Brussels.
ADVERTISEMENTHegseth lambasted European allies for failing to provide U.S. forces access to bases on the continent to launch attacks on Iran, calling it “shameful.”
“These allies, they put America’s sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, at risk by denying them the predictable access, basing and overflight that never should have been in question at all,” he said.
Here’s a longer clip of his remarks:
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