The White House Seeks to Reboot the U.S.-Europe Alliance

The White House’s new National Security Strategy is accelerating a reboot of the trans-Atlantic relationship. Slow to realize the U.S. was serious about shifting its security burden, Europe is now talking with a sense of urgency about its own defense.

European leaders need to plan a credible transition from a U.S.-led security order to one that is European-led. This effort will constitute the backbone of a new trans-Atlantic strategy.

Rebalancing the U.S.-Europe security relationship will take coordinated efforts on defense, innovation and international engagement. Such work, highlighted by a bipartisan task force hosted by the German Marshall Fund of the U.S., will require political leadership from both sides of the Atlantic. It will be far less costly than the alternative, which is a slow unraveling of the trans-Atlantic partnership.

This op-ed was originally published in The Wall Street Journal on December 17, 2025. Click here for the full analysis.