US troops on a training mission in Latvia in 2021. Photo / Specialist Michael Baumberger, 196th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
The Trump Administration intends to halt long-time security assistance programmes for Europe.
They include an initiative to fortify the continent’s eastern flank against a potential attack by Russia.
The move comes as the Administration endeavours to recast Washington’s role within Nato, according to six people familiar with the matter.
The decision would impact hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of military aid relied upon by some of the alliance’s most vulnerable members.
It has alarmed United States allies struggling to comprehend the Administration’s policy towards Europe and its chief adversary in the Kremlin.
US President Donald Trump, eager for a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, rescued its mercurial leader, Vladimir Putin, from diplomatic isolation.
US lawmakers are confused by the move.
“The Russians genuinely only care about American dollars, American troops, and the American flag,” said a European official worried what signal a cut in US aid would send to Moscow.
In a statement, the White House said its move to slash security assistance was “co-ordinated” with the Europeans and is consistent both with Trump’s executive order to re-evaluate US foreign aid and his “long-standing emphasis on ensuring Europe takes more responsibility for its own defence”.
“Europe has been stepping up,” the statement says. “We are pleased with European allies taking on more defence initiatives.”
A spokesperson for the Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump has vacillated in his approach to Europe amid the long-running Ukraine conflict, exhibiting both frustration and warmth towards Putin while endorsing plans to support Kyiv through American weapons sales and security guarantees.
The Pentagon under Trump also has sent mixed signals, multiple people familiar with the matter said.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in July met the leaders of the three Baltic nations that border Russia - Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - and commended their push to raise defence spending.
Behind the scenes, the Defence Department policy office has been aggressive in its efforts to end certain support programmes.
The Administration’s decision was reported earlier by the Financial Times.
In the Republican-led Congress, where bipartisan support for Nato and Ukraine remains strong, aides expressed confusion with the Administration’s plan.
They said it is unclear precisely how much funding will be affected and whether any of the money being targeted is related to Ukraine. A Senate aide said the Defence Department has not provided lawmakers with a briefing on the issue, despite requests to do so.
David Baker, the Pentagon’s head of Europe and Nato policy, informed a group of European defence officials of the decision late last week, attributing the change to shifting priorities within the Administration, people familiar with the matter said.
Baker is closely aligned with Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby, who has long argued that the US can’t sustain its current level of support for Europe and double down on efforts to deter China in the Pacific.
China is a pressing concern shared across Washington as Beijing leads a rapid military build-up.
US officials said the Trump Administration’s increased attention to border security and homeland defence, in addition to China, is a primary reason to end the European security funding.
The Defence Department’s policy wing did not respond to a request for comment.
Among the programmes to be suspended is the Baltic Security Initiative, an effort to reinforce those three nations with money for military infrastructure and training.
Within Nato, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia spend among the most of their GDP on defence, but they have relatively small economies, making US funding highly important to them.
The programme began in 2018 and has almost doubled in size since then, said Lauren Speranza, a former adviser to Biden Administration Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and now a fellow with the Centre for European Policy Analysis.
The money is a symbolic show of support for those countries’ defence, she said, while also protecting against the possibility of a Russian attack.
“It’s to prevent the US from ever going there to fight to fulfil its Nato obligations,” Speranza said.
Earlier this summer, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed US$225 million ($384m) for the Baltics initiative in its defence spending bill, though the legislation has yet to come up for a vote before the full chamber.
While the issue of security assistance did not come up in detail during Hegseth’s meeting with the Baltic defence ministers, they sought to make the case that the US should maintain a presence of troops in their countries - seen as a far more important deterrent against Russia.
Colby is also leading a review of US force posture around the globe, which European officials widely expect to end in a smaller American military presence on the continent.
During a visit by Poland’s president to the White House yesterday, Trump said that the US would not remove troops from the country, a close supporter of the Baltics, though he acknowledged the Administration has thought about doing so elsewhere.
“If anything,” Trump said, “we’ll put more there.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what other programmes face cuts or when the money previously authorised by Congress will run out. The funding left in the programmes can be spent until October 2026.
The decision is likely to invite a backlash from Congress, where lawmakers from both parties have grown increasingly concerned that the Trump Administration is not spending money as they write into law, including a last-minute request to not send out around US$5 billion in foreign aid previously approved by lawmakers.
Of concern on Capitol Hill, people familiar with the matter said, is that even if lawmakers passed money for the European security programmes, the Defence Department could redirect the funding without their input, a process known as “reprogramming” that allows the Pentagon to move small amounts of money without congressional approval in certain cases.
The House and Senate could move to protect the programmes in the National Defence Authorisation Act, the must-pass defence policy bill that will soon come up for a full vote in each chamber.
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