Hegseth Reiterates US Unease With NATO Allies In Shangri-La Summit

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reiterated the Trump administration’s unease with its European allies citing their lack of enthusiasm to ramp up military spending.

NATO member nations who are averse to ramp up defense spending “will face a clear shift in how we do business,” Hegseth said at an Asia security forum in Singapore on Saturday, Bloomberg reported.

The defense secretary’s comments are seen as yet another prod from the Trump administration to reluctant NATO partners, who are not keen to ramp up military spending.

“The era of the United States subsidizing the defense of wealthy nations is over. We need partners, not protectorates. We seek alliances built on shared responsibility, not dependency,” Hegseth said, according to an official statement.

Hegseth said the US was “charting a new course for our alliances and partnerships,” a reference seen by many media outlets as a pointer that the US was swaying away from the Nato allies in Europe.

“For too long, polite pleas from our European allies to spend more on their own defense fell on deaf ears,” an AFP report quoted him as saying at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue conference in Singapore.

“They are finally playing catch-up,” he says. “Allies who refuse to step up and carry their own weight for our collective defense will face a clear shift in how we do business.”

His remarks come amid reports that the US is planning to reduce the military resources it would make available to Europe during a major conflict, according to reports, raising concerns about NATO’s role and the balance of responsibilities within the alliance.

Hegseth himself informed senior NATO officials in Brussels earlier this month that the US would slash its available resources provided to the bloc, including cutting the number of strategic bombers, the New York Post reported, citing a story by German news outlet Spiegel.

The US Navy may also reportedly shrink destroyer availability and end submarines offered, according to reports.

NATO member nations had in 2025 vowed to increase defense spending to 5 percent of their GDP, but many of them have reportedly indicated they may not be able to meet that pledge due to economic woes.

Hegseth pointed out that in Asia itself, the regional security “rested disproportionately on American military power, while many of our allies and partners allowed their own defense capabilities to atrophy.”

The US defense secretary though had some words of praise for many regional players in Asia, especially naming South Korea.

“South Korea has invested consistently in its own defense, because it does not have the luxury of treating war like an academic exercise.They live on the front lines, and so they build real combat power.”

He said South Korea’s stance reflect a better understanding of “the threat environment.”

Spending policies of Australia, the Philippines and Japan were also lauded by the US top aide.

“You don’t have a strong alliance unless everyone has skin in the game. No freeloading,” Hegseth says.

NATO’s military chief Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone later downplayed perceived tensions between the bloc and the US in a Bloomberg Television interview.

“We don’t have any drama going on” with the US, he said, adding, “I think we are in a good shape.”

Dragone said the bloc had already responded to American demands to boost military spending.