US plans to halve NATO bomber support as Trump pushes Europe to spend more on defense

Washington is pulling back strategic bombers, fighter jets, and nuclear submarines from NATO commitments, a move that could ripple through risk markets far beyond defense stocks.

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Add us on Google by Editorial Team May. 26, 2026

The United States just told its closest military allies to start fending for themselves. During a briefing in Brussels the week of May 19, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and envoy Alexander Velez-Green informed senior NATO officials that Washington plans to drastically cut the military assets it makes available to the alliance during crises or wartime.

The numbers are stark. Strategic bombers available to NATO forces would be cut in half. Fighter jets would be reduced by roughly one-third. The US Navy would deploy fewer destroyers. And nuclear submarines, previously pledged to NATO, would be withdrawn entirely.

What the drawdown actually looks like

Pulling nuclear submarines out of the equation entirely is arguably the most consequential piece. These vessels operate as invisible deterrents, patrolling unseen and capable of launching strikes that adversaries cannot easily track or preempt. Removing them from NATO’s crisis toolkit means European allies lose access to one of the most potent instruments of modern warfare.

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Reports about the drawdown first surfaced in German magazine Der Spiegel and were subsequently confirmed by Reuters on May 19-20. The timing matters: this wasn’t a leaked memo or an unnamed source whispering to reporters. It was a formal briefing delivered by the Defense Secretary himself to NATO’s senior leadership.

The burden-sharing fight that won’t die

The Trump administration has been pushing NATO allies to commit 5% of GDP to defense spending, a target that was pledged in 2025, with member states required to reach it by 2035. For context, most European nations struggled for years to meet NATO’s previous guideline of 2% of GDP. Jumping to 5% would require many countries to more than double their defense budgets.

The strategic logic extends beyond budget disputes. The Trump administration has signaled a broader realignment of US military priorities, with greater emphasis on the Indo-Pacific theater and competition with China. Every bomber, destroyer, and submarine committed to NATO is one that isn’t available for Pacific contingencies.

What this means for investors

The most direct impact will be on European defense spending. If NATO allies are forced to rapidly increase military budgets to compensate for reduced US support, that money has to come from somewhere. Higher defense expenditures could mean larger fiscal deficits, increased government borrowing, and potential pressure on European sovereign debt.

For crypto traders specifically, this development is a reminder to keep the macro radar on. The drawdown won’t move Bitcoin prices tomorrow. But the second-order effects, European fiscal policy shifts, changing risk premiums, potential currency volatility, are exactly the kind of slow-moving forces that reshape trading environments over quarters and years.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.