Vice President J.D. Vance warned on Tuesday that it is “not good” for Europe to be “the permanent security vassal of the United States.”
During a Tuesday interview with UnHerd, Vance said, “Europe’s entire security infrastructure, for my entire life, has been subsidized by the United States of America.”
Vance told UnHerd that besides the possible exceptions of France, Britain, and Poland, the majority of European nations “don’t have militaries that can provide for their reasonable defense.”
“It’s not good for Europe to be the permanent security vassal of the United States,” Vance said. The vice president added, “European leaders have radically underinvested in security, and that has to change.”
According to Politico, the vice president’s comments regarding Europe’s security comes as the Trump administration has repeatedly warned that European countries are currently too dependent on the United States for military protection. The outlet noted that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth previously warned that America’s military presence in Europe will not remain “forever.”
Politico reported that President Donald Trump has called for NATO member countries to increase their defense spending from 2% to 5% of their gross domestic product. According to the outlet, the spending increase could be addressed at the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague.
“I don’t think that Europe being more independent is bad for the United States — it’s good for the United States,” Vance told UnHerd.
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Discussing the issue of trade with European countries, Vance told UnHerd that the Trump administration will continue to take steps to ensure “fairness.”
“I think it will lead to a lot of positive trade relationships with Europe,” the vice president said. “And again, we very much see Europe as our ally. We just want it to be an alliance where Europeans are a little more independent, and our security and trade relationships are gonna reflect that.”
During Tuesday’s interview with UnHerd, Vance also emphasized the Trump administration’s current frustration with the immigration policies impacting European countries.
Vance told UnHerd, “We’re very frustrated — ‘we’ meaning me, the President, certainly the entire Trump administration — that European populations keep on crying out for more sensible economic and migration policies, and the leaders of Europe keep on going through these elections, and keep on offering the European peoples the opposite of what they seem to have voted for.”
On the other hand, the vice president also emphasized his “love” for the European people.
“I love European people,” Vance said. “I’ve said repeatedly that you can’t separate American culture from European culture. We’re very much a product of philosophies, theologies, and of course the migration patterns that came out of Europe that launched the United States of America.”
Source: American Military News
