Pentagon officials announced on Friday that the United States will prioritise homeland defence henceforth, and scale down assistance to NATO and EU allies.
A revised 2026 National Defence Strategy (NDS), released on January 23, places “determent of China” as top priority and asks NATO member states to take primary responsibility for military support to Ukraine and their own conventional defence.
“Although we are and will remain engaged in Europe, we must – and will – prioritise defending the US Homeland and deterring China,” reads the document, adding, “The Department will therefore incentivise and enable NATO allies to take primary responsibility for Europe’s conventional defence with critical, but more limited US support.”
The document reiterates US President Donald Trump’s insistence that the war in Ukraine must end. “As he has also emphasised, however, this is Europe’s responsibility first and foremost,” it states further.
The NDS also notes Trump’s push for NATO members to increase defence spending to “5 per cent of GDP to achieve greater self-sufficiency”.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in an interview aired on Wednesday, acknowledged a shift in US’ foreign policy, saying, “He [Trump] has forced us in Europe to step up, to face the consequences that we have to take care of more of our own defence.”
Rutte also credited Trump’s pressure for the recent NATO decisions on higher spending targets.
Since resuming office for the second term in January 2025, Trump has focused heavily on addressing domestic issues and adopted a more “hands-off” foreign policy approach, especially with regards Ukraine and the EU. His latest demand to take complete control of Greenland, citing security reasons, has added to the US’ geopolitical tensions with long-standing EU allies.
To Trump’s latest claims that the US “never needed” allied help in Afghanistan and that NATO partners “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines”, UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, said on Friday the comments are “insulting and frankly appalling”. He also suggested Trump apologise for them.
“If I had misspoken in that way or said those words, I would certainly apologise,” Starmer said.
The UK contributed the second-largest Western troop contingent to Afghanistan, peaking at around 11,000 in 2011. Over the 20-year conflict, 2,456 Americans and 457 British soldiers were killed, according to BBC figures.
