Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany has come out clearly and declared that European countries had been over-reliant on the United States insofar as defense and security were concerned. Merz has himself conceded, in a recent BBC interview, that Europe has been free-riding off American military protection and has conceded that the European nations have to shoulder more of the burden of their military expenditure. This confession arrives as the tension with Russia persists and US President Donald Trump threatens additional trade tariffs on European imports.
Germany’s Merz tells BBC Europe was free-riding on US https://t.co/IuqzHFrUa9
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) July 18, 2025
The German leader stressed the fact that European spending on defense should be drastically boosted to tackle the security demands presently being experienced. Merz reasoned that the army of Germany could not be strong enough to take up the threats posed by modernity, especially by Russia. To counter this weakness, Germany has gone ahead to amend its constitution to enable a considerable increment in defense expenditure, in line with what it takes, anything, to national security.
https://youtu.be/SA5fRV79oc0?si=fdqr-gRfirsX-7Va
The Ukraine war has turned out to be a legacy problem to the chancellorship of Merz. Four days after his inauguration as chancellor he accompanied the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron to the city of Kyiv. This European solidarity portrays the intention of the continent in taking European preparations against Russia in favoring Ukraine.
Building Stronger European Partnerships: The E3 Alliance
Merz is in the process of cementing even closer relations between most of the European powerhouses by what is known as the E3 alliance ( UK, Germany, and France as its protagonists). The European integration of defense is an initiative to limit the reliance on American military assistance in the framework of the priorities concerning security, foreign policy, and economic expansion.
The German chancellor has entered a historical friendship accord with the UK recently which also tightened the defense bond between the two countries. This treaty involves synthesizing Super weapons, such as missiles of range 2000 kilometers. Great Britain and Germany are already involved in projects of such British and German companies as Typhoon Eurofighter jets and Boxer armored vehicles.
Beyond protectionism, the threatened tariffs by US present the European countries with huge economic issues. On the 1st of August, Trump plans to impose 30% import tax on all European Union exports and Merz finds the idea unacceptable to the export sector in Germany. EU trade negotiators are at present still in Washington attempt at preventing such harmful trade hindrances.
