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  • Mon. Jun 2nd, 2025

EU diplomatic chief calls for enhanced defence spending in face of US ‘tough love’

ByRomeo Minalane

Jun 1, 2025
EU diplomatic chief calls for enhanced defence spending in face of US ‘tough love’

Speaking at the Shangri-La defence forum in Singapore, Kallas was responding to comments by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who called President Donald Trump’s insistence on more military spending ’tough love’

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The European Union’s diplomatic chief Kaja Kallas said Saturday the continent was beefing up defence spending after “tough love” from the Trump administration, as she called for stronger ties to counter China’s “economic might”.

Speaking at the Shangri-La defence forum in Singapore, Kallas was responding to comments by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who called President Donald Trump’s insistence on more military spending “tough love”.

“It’s love nonetheless, so it’s better than no love,” Kallas quipped when asked later about Hegseth’s speech.

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Brussels’ relationship with Washington was not broken, Kallas stressed, saying she spoke to Hegseth on Friday.

“You heard his speech. He was actually quite positive about Europe, so there’s definitely some love there,” she said.

Trump has consistently pressed NATO countries to increase defence spending, asking for as much as five percent of GDP and saying Washington will no longer tolerate freeloaders.

Kallas said “there are different countries in Europe and some of us have realised a long time ago that we need to invest in defence”.

“The European Union has shifted gear and reimagined our own paradigm as a peace project backed up with hard defence,” she said.

“It is a good thing we are doing more, but what I want to stress is that the security of Europe and the security of the Pacific is very much interlinked,” she added.

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