Europe's F-35 Dilemma: Can It Get America Out of Its Cockpit?

The EU's post-Trump quest for defense autonomy won't prove easy

- Lionel Laurent

Can Europe re-arm without America? This is a question that nobody was asking a few years ago, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted a €100 billion German splurge on US-made F-35 fighter jets and Boeing helicopters.

Between 2020 and 2024, the US accounted for almost two-thirds of European arms imports; France, with its pride in home-made platforms like Dassault Aviation's Rafale plane, has been a Gaullist outlier.

US President Donald Trump's antics have since made French President Emmanuel Macron's approach—which includes buying more Rafales—look good. Trump has insulted NATO allies in Europe. He has imposed tariffs and threatened to tear up defense commitments while scrambling to seal a Ukraine deal. Several countries are now reviewing F-35 orders, both because of optics and deeper concerns about reliance on an unpredictable hegemon.

The idea that Trump could de-activate allies' weapons systems is no longer impossible, think-tank EUISS recently said, giving added urgency to EU plans to reduce 'excessive' import dependencies.