US wants Europe to take over most of NATO's conventional defense capabilities by 2027 / Europeans think deadline is unrealistic

If Europe does not meet the 2027 deadline, the US could stop participating in some NATO defense coordination mechanisms, multiple sources told Reuters.

The United States wants Europe to take over most of NATO's conventional defense capabilities, from information to missiles, by 2027, Pentagon officials said this week, a tight deadline that some European officials found unrealistic.

The message, reported by five sources familiar with the discussion, including a US official, was delivered at a meeting in Washington this week between Pentagon staff coordinating NATO policy and several European delegations.

Transferring this task from the US to the European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would dramatically change the way the United States, a founding member of the postwar alliance, works with its most important military partners.

At the meeting, Pentagon officials indicated that Washington is not yet satisfied with the progress Europe has made in strengthening its defense capabilities since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

US officials have told their counterparts that if Europe does not meet the 2027 deadline, the US could stop participating in some NATO defense coordination mechanisms, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Some congressional officials are aware and concerned about the Pentagon's message to Europeans, a US official said, quoted by Reuters.

How will European progress be measured?

Conventional defense capabilities include non-nuclear assets, from troops to weapons, and officials have not explained how the U.S. would measure Europe's progress in assuming most of the burden.

It was also unclear whether the 2027 deadline represented the Trump administration's position or just the opinions of Pentagon officials. There is significant disagreement in Washington about the military role the US should play in Europe.

Several European officials have said the 2027 deadline is unrealistic, no matter how Washington measures progress, because Europe needs more than money and political will to replace some US capabilities in the short term.

Among other challenges, NATO allies are facing delays in the production of military equipment they are trying to acquire. While U.S. officials have encouraged Europe to buy more U.S.-made materials, some of the most prized U.S.-made weapons and defense systems would take years to deliver if ordered today.

The US also contributes capabilities that cannot simply be purchased, such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations, which have proven critical to Ukraine's war effort.

A NATO official speaking on behalf of the alliance told Reuters that European allies had begun to take more responsibility for the continent's security, but did not comment on the 2027 deadline.

“Allies recognized the need to invest more in defense and shift the burden of conventional defense” from the US to Europe, the official said.

European states have largely accepted US President Donald Trump's call to take more responsibility for their own security and pledged to significantly increase defense spending.

The European Union has set a goal of preparing the continent to defend itself by 2030 and says it needs to cover gaps in air defense, drones, cyber warfare capabilities, munitions and other areas.

Officials and analysts said even that term was extremely ambitious.

An increasingly cold transatlantic relationship

The Trump administration has consistently argued that European allies must contribute more to the NATO alliance, but it is not always clear what the president's position is on NATO, Reuters notes.

In the 2024 election campaign, Trump frequently criticized European allies and said he would encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade NATO countries that do not spend a fair amount on defense.

But at the annual NATO leaders' summit in June, Trump praised European leaders for accepting a US plan to raise member states' annual defense spending target to 5 percent of gross domestic product.

In the months since, Trump has oscillated between a tougher line on Russia — the bloc's main adversary — and, more recently, a willingness to negotiate with Moscow on the Ukraine conflict. European officials have complained that they have been largely excluded from these negotiations.

At a meeting of NATO foreign ministers this week, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said it was “obvious” that NATO allies should take responsibility for Europe's defence.

“Successive US administrations have said this in one form or another for most of my life, but our administration is serious,” Landau wrote on X.