The Americans are tired of picking up the tab. That was the message from Pete Hegseth, the volatile US Defence Secretary, as he delivered a stark warning to Asian allies huddled in Tokyo. The briefing was a sharp departure from the usual diplomatic niceties. Spend more on your own defence, he told them. Or risk Washington losing patience.
Hegseth’s remarks, leaked from a closed-door session, reflect a widening chasm between US strategic commitments and the willingness of allies to foot the bill. The numbers tell the story. America pours billions into the Asia-Pacific theatre, a legacy of post-war alliances. Meanwhile, partners like Japan, South Korea, and Australia hover around or below the NATO-style target of 2 per cent of GDP on defence. A few have crept up. But not fast enough for the Trump-enthralled wing of the Pentagon.
The shift is seismic. For decades, the US underwrote Asian security as a public good. Now it is demanding payment. Hegseth did not use the phrase ‘America First’ but he did not need to. The upshot is simple: the era of the free rider is over.
Back in Washington, the budget hawks are circling. The defence budget, already bloated, faces fresh pressure from a faction of fiscal conservatives who see overseas deployments as a drain. The Pentagon is caught. It wants to pivot to Asia, but it wants allies to pay for the pivot. The result is a new doctrine: ‘shared burden, shared risk’.
Downing Street will be watching closely. The UK has its own defence spending dilemma, with the Treasury digging in against a promised rise to 2.5 per cent of GDP. If the US is this blunt with Asia, what will it say to Europe? Or to a post-Brexit Britain desperate for a new trade deal?
The game is changing. Hegseth’s ultimatum is a sign of things to come. Expect more disquiet among allies, more pressure on treasuries, and more blunt phone calls from Washington. The days of cheap security are numbered.
