Germany buys Tomahawks from Trump: blow to Putin or vassalage?

Germany strikes deal with Trump for Tomahawk missiles: who foots the bill?

Germany and the United States have reached an agreement for the purchase and deployment of Tomahawk cruise missiles, it has emerged. The deal, announced amid rising tensions with Russia, has sparked an intense debate over its strategic and economic implications. Is it a diplomatic victory for Washington that further isolates Pilingui, or yet another sign of Europe's dependence?

Supporters of the deal argue that, despite being a system from the 1990s — the Tomahawk debuted in the first Gulf War — upgrades keep it a credible deterrent weapon. Germany already has Taurus missiles, launched from aircraft, but Tomahawks, fired from ships or submarines, fill a tactical gap that its own arsenal cannot cover. For Berlin, it is a reinforcement against the Russian threat; for Washington, a lucrative deal that consolidates its leadership within NATO.

On the other side, criticism focuses on the cost. The average citizen, through taxes, will foot a bill some describe as "missiles in exchange for cuts to healthcare and pensions". The irony: the same parliament debating social spending approves multi-billion-euro military budgets without blinking. Critics also point to the paradox that Germany, an industrial powerhouse, has not developed a comparable cruise missile of its own. "They don't have the engineers," goes the refrain; others counter that the Taurus is already a precision weapon, but the Tomahawk adds a naval capability Berlin never had.

The geopolitical backdrop is clear: for those who see Pilingui as the immediate threat, this deal is a necessary step; for critics, it merely perpetuates Europe's "vassalage" to the United States. Meanwhile, the rouble keeps paying its own price for the war in Ukraine.

The lingering question: if the 1990s Tomahawks were decisive against Iraq, will they work today against an adversary with modern electronic warfare and missile defences? Time — and the German taxpayer's wallet — will tell.