What does the US National Defense Strategy mean for Europe?

Orientul Mijlociu

The US role in Europe’s defence will be limited, supportive and conditional, with Europeans assuming „primary responsibility” for their conventional defence. Just published, the 2026 National Defense Strategy operationalises the seismic shift introduced by the Trump administration and formalised in last year’s National Security Strategy. Accordingly, US defence will prioritise the homeland with the Western Hemisphere and the Indo-Pacific region, with Europe increasingly treated as a secondary