US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced a six-month Pentagon review of America's military presence across Europe, warning that some NATO allies will "fail" the assessment while threatening to reduce US financial contributions to the alliance if members do not meet defence spending targets. Speaking at a meeting of NATO defence ministers at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Hegseth accused several countries of "free-riding" on American security guarantees and declared that NATO would henceforth be "a two-way street."

The review, which Hegseth framed as part of a broader shift he called "NATO 3.0," is designed to accelerate what Washington sees as an inevitable transfer of primary responsibility for European security to European nations themselves. US annual dues to the alliance, Hegseth said, would be made contingent on allies meeting their defence spending targets. The Trump administration is pushing NATO members toward a goal of spending 5% of GDP on defence and related infrastructure by 2035 — comprising 3.5% on core military capabilities and 1.5% on defence-linked infrastructure such as roads and bridges. Among the cuts already under consideration are the redeployment of roughly a third of the 150 US F-16 and F-15 jets designated for NATO, along with refuelling and reconnaissance aircraft, bombers, and drones. A senior NATO official acknowledged that "not everything" the US is withdrawing can be fully replaced by European members, though NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte noted that European defence spending had already risen by €90 billion last year — nearly 20% — and that Europeans were already backfilling some US drawdowns. Rutte added that changes to the US force posture were taking effect immediately.

Hegseth reserved particularly sharp criticism for European allies that refused to grant access to their bases or airspace when US forces struck Iranian targets earlier this year. "It was shameful," he said, accusing those allies of putting American personnel at greater risk by denying "predictable access, basing and overflight that never should have been in question." The UK allowed US aircraft to launch strikes from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, but most other European nations declined to permit their territory to be used for bombing or refuelling missions. Hegseth also told Britain's newly appointed defence secretary, Dan Jarvis — who replaced John Healey after Healey resigned last week over disagreements on the pace of UK military spending increases — that it was "unacceptable" for allies to stand "at the end of a runway with a clipboard" deciding which US missions to permit. Spain was cited as a notable case: earlier, President Trump threatened to halt all trade with Madrid after it refused access to the two US military bases on its territory, Naval Station Rota and Morón Air Base.

In remarks that drew comparisons to Vice President JD Vance's controversial speech in Munich last year, Hegseth criticised what he called a misplaced European focus on "gender equity and climate change" at the expense of tanks, fighters, and air defences. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, responding after the meeting, acknowledged that allies had long known the US intended to draw down its European footprint and said, "We know that we must do more and we are doing it." Rutte, widely regarded as having a constructive relationship with President Trump, said Hegseth's pressure was welcome: "I'm happy he does this, because we need to speak the truth to each other." He cautioned, however, that money alone was insufficient — "you can't stop a rocket or a tank with a dollar or a euro" — and stressed the need to convert increased budgets rapidly into battlefield-ready capabilities.

The announcement adds a further layer of uncertainty ahead of the next NATO leaders' summit, scheduled for early July in Ankara, Turkey, where allies are expected to present concrete plans for meeting the 5% spending goal. Hegseth departed Brussels well before the ministerial meeting concluded and hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to press allies for additional weapons support — a symbolically noted absence that underlined the tensions now running through the transatlantic alliance.