A survey now circulating among NATO capitals puts a blunt condition on America’s continued military commitment to Europe. Allies must first document how faithfully they have backed Donald Trump’s agenda.
The document, seen by Bloomberg, runs through a checklist meant to measure political alignment with the president. Governments are asked whether they have “been publicly supportive” of US foreign policy and what “restrictions” they have placed on the US military using their bases. One section homes in on operations in the Middle East and the Western Hemisphere, areas where Trump has struck without NATO backing, and asks whether such restrictions could be reduced or eliminated.
Money is another line of inquiry. The questionnaire wants proof that allies are buying from American defense contractors and asks whether they have “publicly opposed regulations” that “inhibit” contracts with US firms. It even measures whether a country has aligned with the US approach of “strong, clear, and quiet,” a phrase lifted from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
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The reaction among allies has been resistance. Many read the exercise as a bid to swap protection for ideological fealty, according to people familiar with the matter. Anchoring decades-old security guarantees to that kind of loyalty would abandon the post-World War II bargain, in which collective defense endured regardless of political friction between members.
Some cuts are already underway. Washington has said it will pull 5,000 troops from Germany and shift other forces without replacing them, though Trump has promised extra troops for Poland, citing the election of nationalist president Karol Nawrocki. The wider six-month review of the US presence in Europe, which surfaced this document weeks in, is expected to conclude by December.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has cast the review as sensible, pointing to climbing European and Canadian defense budgets. “It is, I think, bringing NATO closer together,” he told reporters in July.
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