Should the United States maintain current defense commitments to NATO allies?

Background

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has served as the cornerstone of transatlantic security since 1949, binding the United States and its European and Canadian allies in a mutual defense pact. The debate over U.S. commitments to NATO has intensified following the 2026 National Defense Strategy, which explicitly prioritizes homeland defense and deterring China over European conventional defense, signaling that European allies must take the lead against regional threats with more limited American support. At the 2025 Hague Summit, NATO members agreed to a historic new target of spending 5 percent of GDP on defense and security by 2035, more than doubling the previous 2 percent benchmark. According to NATO, all 32 allies met the 2 percent threshold in 2025 for the first time, and European allies and Canada increased defense spending by 20 percent in a single year. The upcoming Ankara Summit in July 2026 will serve as the first major review of progress on these commitments.

Supporters of maintaining strong U.S. defense commitments to NATO argue the alliance provides irreplaceable strategic benefits that cannot be measured in dollars alone. The Reagan National Defense Survey found that 76 percent of Americans would support the U.S. military coming to the defense of a NATO ally under Article V, and favorability toward NATO reached a record 68 percent in late 2025. Proponents also note that Article 5 has been invoked only once — after the September 11 attacks on the United States — illustrating that collective defense serves American security interests directly. Those who favor reducing commitments argue that European allies have free-ridden on American military spending for decades. The 2026 National Defense Strategy frames European allies as wealthy and capable enough to manage the Russian threat themselves. The Peterson Institute for International Economics has noted that if all NATO members actually spent 5 percent of GDP on defense, their combined expenditures would surpass actual total global military spending, raising questions about whether the target is realistic or designed as political leverage.

The stakes of this debate are significant. According to Pew Research Center, a majority of Americans still say the U.S. benefits from NATO membership, but the partisan divide is widening — 82 percent of Democrats see benefits compared to just 38 percent of Republicans, the lowest in Pew's surveys. The German Marshall Fund has observed that Congress remains a strongly pro-NATO legislative body with bipartisan alignment, even as the executive branch shifts priorities toward the Indo-Pacific. Meanwhile, Gallup found that median approval of U.S. leadership among NATO ally populations fell to just 21 percent in 2025. How the United States navigates this moment will shape whether the transatlantic alliance adapts into a more balanced partnership or fractures under the weight of diverging priorities, with consequences for European security, American global influence, and the broader international order.