The US Defense secretary attacked European immigration policies in a speech commemorating the 82nd anniversary of D-Day, reflecting the growing rift between Washington and its transatlantic allies.
Speaking in France on Saturday, Pete Hegseth decried a modern “invasion” of “boats and men,” one day after the US vice president blamed a British teenager’s murder on “mass migration.”
Both sets of remarks drew pushback and rekindled broader European anxieties over the stability of the continent’s US-led security arrangements.
Europe is “now spending real money on defense,” Eurasia Group’s Ian Bremmer told Ezra Klein, but “they’re not spending on the American military-industrial complex.” Instead, countries like Poland are plowing funds into their own defense firms.