On Tuesday’s “PBS NewsHour,” co-host Geoff Bennett stated that Europe has been dependent on America for its security, and that leads to “an underinvestment in Europe’s own defense capabilities.”
While speaking with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Bennett said, “On the matter of defense spending, historically, Europe has relied on the U.S. for security, leading to an underinvestment in Europe’s own defense capabilities. Some European countries have increased their own defense spending. But what’s really required in shifting that paradigm, as President Trump has called for?”
Stubb responded, “Well, my first observation is to say that President Trump is right, and the pressure that he has put on allies in NATO has been very welcomed. But there are a lot of our European allies that haven’t done enough. So, when President Trump started to put pressure on the allies in 2016, there were only about three NATO countries that went over the 2% threshold. Now we’re at 23. The U.S. wants Europe to take more responsibility for its own security and defense. And I think the U.S. is right on that. But the transition is long, and this is not binary. We’re allies. We’re in this together, hand-to-hand. European security is in the interest of American security, and vice versa.”
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