European military spending hampered by US export rules, says Rutte
The NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, stated that he wishes to persuade Donald Trump to facilitate the purchase of military equipment from the US by European allies. He emphasised on Thursday in an interview with dpa that Europe could acquire more if not for the stringent American export regulations.
Rutte highlighted that the spending by European allies on American equipment already amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars. However, it could be significantly higher "if the US defence industry were liberalised and open, and there was no need to obtain approval from Congress, the Pentagon, and the White House," he added in the conversation with dpa.
As an example, he cited the demand from European partners for Patriot air and missile defence systems.
- Each one costs approximately £1.6 billion. It's a huge amount for the US and the American economy - noted Rutte. At the same time, he pointed out that currently, deliveries of Patriot systems to Europe take a very long time.
Rutte expects that Trump, as President of the US, will exert greater pressure on those European allies who spend relatively little on defence. According to Trump, countries in Europe are doing far too little in terms of defence and rely too heavily on the US in this regard.
During his first presidency (2017-2021), Trump even threatened to withdraw the US from NATO for this reason. He has recently demanded that allies allocate 5% of their GDP to defence in the future. For Germany and many other countries, this would mean the necessity of more than doubling their expenditures on this purpose - as reported by dpa.
NATO chief warns: spending needs to increase
In principle, liberalising the US defence market could make it easier for interested countries to invest larger amounts, and at the same time, would allow Trump to claim that he strengthened the American defence industry - the German agency noted.
Rutte repeatedly emphasised that he considers increasing defence spending in Europe necessary. - Generally speaking, European allies already invest over 2% of their GDP in defence - said Rutte. - However, in four to five years, deterrence problems with Russia may arise if spending is not increased - warned the NATO Secretary General.
