Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivers remarks at the 22nd Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on May 30, 2025. (Defense Department photo)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will travel to Europe this week to meet with his NATO counterparts and participate in the annual commemoration of the D-Day assault critical to the Allied victory in World War II, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Hegseth will meet with his counterparts at a NATO defense ministerial in Brussels on Thursday, where he will push them to spend more money on the Continent’s defense, said Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman and a close adviser to the secretary.
“The secretary will deliver a message at the defense ministerial focused on advancing President [Donald] Trump’s call for NATO allies to commit to spend 5% of their GDP on defense and refocusing NATO on collective defense and deterrence,” Parnell said in a statement Tuesday.
Trump has long pushed NATO allies to spend more money on their own defenses and has criticized many alliance members for relying too heavily on the United States. At times, Trump has threatened to leave the 75-year-old alliance.
Hegseth in February told NATO defense ministers in a Brussels meeting that they must spend more on hard power, including troop readiness and modern weaponry, especially considering the continued invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
“We can talk all we want about values. Values are important,” Hegseth said. “But you can’t shoot values, you can’t shoot flags, and you can’t shoot strong speeches. There is no replacement for hard power.”
After the meetings in Brussels, Hegseth will travel to Normandy in France where allies will observe the 81st anniversary of Operation Overlord – the June 6, 1944, amphibious and airborne assault on France’s northern beaches by some 160,000 Allied troops, including 73,000 Americans.
NATO officials and World War II veterans gather each year in Normandy to honor the more than 4,000 Allied troops — including some 2,500 Americans — killed in battle that day and commemorate the assault that launched the campaign that would drive German forces out of France and force a surrender in May 1945.
