Vance: Time For Europe To Stop Being America’s ‘Permanent Security Vassal’

Vice President JD Vance declared in a Tuesday interview that Europe must stop being America’s “permanent security vassal” while slamming continental leaders for repeatedly ignoring voters on immigration.

“Europe’s entire security infrastructure, for my entire life, has been subsidized by the United States of America,” Vance argued in an interview with British website UnHerd.

The vice president specifically noted that with the possible exception of Britain, France, and Poland, “most European nations don’t have militaries that can provide for their reasonable defense.” He emphasized that European leaders have “radically underinvested in security, and that has to change.”

“It’s not good for Europe to be the permanent security vassal of the United States,” Vance said.

Vance’s comments align with the Trump administration’s frequent criticism of European nations for relying too heavily on U.S. military power, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warning that American presence in Europe is not “forever,” per Politico.

President Trump has been pushing NATO countries to spend 5% of their GDP on defense, which represents a significant increase from the alliance’s current 2% target, with the potential increase set to be discussed at the upcoming summit in The Hague.

In 2022, only 7 of the 30 NATO members met the minimum 2% GDP threshold for defense expenditures, a number which shot up to 23 in 2024 after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Vance also expressed frustration with many European leaders who continue to implement migration policies that in his view were completely contrary to what their citizens voted for.

“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,” Vance said.

Despite his criticism of European foreign and domestic policies, Vance emphasized his admiration for the continent, stating, “I love European people. 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.”

However, in Vance’s view, Europe being an ally of the United States doesn’t afford it special treatment, particularly in trade.

“With the United Kingdom, we have a much more reciprocal relationship than we have with, say, Germany … While we love the Germans, they are heavily dependent on exporting to the United States but are pretty tough on a lot of American businesses that would like to export into Germany.”

The administration’s guiding principle for the continent going forward is quite simple: “fairness.”

“I think it will lead to a lot of positive trade relationships with Europe. 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.”

Vance also responded to criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who accused him of “somehow justifying” Russia’s invasion, saying it is “sort of absurd for Zelensky to tell the [American] government, which is currently keeping his entire government and war effort together, that we are somehow on the side of the Russians.”

The vice president concluded the interview with a straightforward summary of the administration’s foreign policy philosophy: “We’re not on anybody’s side; we’re on America’s side.”