Pentagon aggressively lobbies EU against Buy European weapons push – POLITICO

“The United States strongly opposes any changes to the Directive that would limit US industry’s ability to support or otherwise participate in EU member state national defense procurements,” the US administration wrote forward of a deliberate replace of EU protection procurement legal guidelines.

“Protectionist and exclusionary policies that strong-arm American companies out of the market — when Europe’s largest defense firms continue to greatly benefit from market access in the United States — are the wrong course of action,” it added.

Washington’s feedback spotlight a paradox within the US method to Europe: While the Trump administration has repeatedly informed Europeans that it desires them to shoulder the majority of the continent’s typical protection, the US would not need that to come back on the expense of American protection companies.

POLITICAL previously reported that US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau slammed European NATO allies for prioritizing their very own protection business over American arms suppliers throughout a closed-door assembly in December. The State Department co-signed the Trump administration’s contribution to the Commission’s survey.

Over the previous few years, the European Commission has been making an attempt to extend the share of European weaponry within the bloc’s arsenals and procurement contracts whereas it braces for potential battle with Russia. For a long time, the continent has relied closely on American navy gear, starting from F-35 fighter jets to HIMARS artillery programs and Patriot air defenses. Almost two-thirds of the bloc’s imported weapons are provided by the US

Such forceful pushback from the Trump administration additionally threatens to complicate any broader Buy European industrial effort from the Commission. It will take a look at how far European nations are keen to go in turning into extra impartial from the US, which has change into an more and more unreliable companion within the age of Trump.