Strategic interests meet political contempt
Alliances are built on trust — and sometimes on necessity. But recent leaked messages from a White House group chat have cast a shadow over the transatlantic relationship, exposing a deep well of resentment within the highest levels of the Trump administration toward America’s European allies.
According to 20minutos, private conversations between senior officials — including Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz — reveal a strikingly blunt attitude about Europe’s perceived reliance on the United States.
“Hate having to rescue them again”
The chat, accidentally leaked to a journalist from The Atlantic, originally centered on U.S. military plans to reopen Red Sea shipping lanes disrupted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. But the tone quickly shifted from strategy to scorn. “If you think we should do it, let’s go. I hate having to rescue Europe again,” wrote Vice President Vance.
Hegseth responded in agreement, saying he fully shared the “disgust at European freeloading,” calling it “pathetic.” He added: “But Mike [Waltz] is right — we’re the only ones on the planet who can do this. Nobody else comes close.”
Waltz had earlier suggested passing the cost of the operation onto European nations, stating that the U.S. was assessing how to calculate and impose these costs: “At the President’s request, we’re working with the Department of Defense and the State Department to figure out how to assign the costs to the Europeans.”
A transactional foreign policy
The leak also included a message from a user identified as “SM” — presumed to be Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — who reinforced the idea that Europe must pay. “If the United States restores freedom of navigation at a high cost, we must obtain additional economic benefit in return,” he said.
The framing of U.S. military intervention as a billable service marks a clear shift in tone from prior administrations. Instead of acting in concert with NATO or traditional allies, the Trump White House appears to view global engagement as a transactional affair — and allies as clients.
Fallout and denials
Defense Secretary Hegseth has since denied sending the messages and launched a personal attack against The Atlantic’s editor Jeffrey Goldberg, calling him “discredited” and accusing him of peddling “garbage.”
Still, the nature and content of the leaked exchange reinforce a narrative that’s been brewing since Trump’s return to power: that the U.S. is recalibrating its foreign alliances based not on shared values, but on return on investment. For Europe, the message is loud and clear — and anything but friendly.
