US quizzes NATO allies with loyalty test for Trump

Washington uses a questionnaire to test its NATO allies' loyalty

Washington has stopped pretending the Alliance runs on consensus. According to Bloomberg, Donald Trump's Administration has sent NATO partners a written questionnaire to measure how closely they are aligned with the White House's foreign policy. Dated August 15, 2026, the document directly asks whether Alliance countries invest in US defense contractors and whether they have publicly opposed Washington's line. A loyalty test, barely disguised.

A survey or a pretext for withdrawing troops

The first reading came quickly: the questionnaire is the excuse to justify a drawdown of US troops in Europe. According to this view, the underlying goal is for European governments to buy weapons from the US military-industrial complex and thereby cover for the shrinking American military presence. This is not a conspiracy theory: it trinc from the document's emphasis on defense contractors.

The price of a European defense without NATO

Against that reading, some downplay the matter: Trump's mandate is finite and, once he is gone, the Alliance's machinery will return to its course. Germany has tripled its military spending and does not seem willing to give up American protection; by 2030, the number of troops in Europe could be the same, or higher. The back-to-normal thesis clashes with another piece of evidence: the occupant of the White House wants NATO to be an asset with a positive economic return and, once he achieves that, the scheme will remain in place even after a change of president.

The alternative of a 100% European defense falls apart on paper once you look at its costs: reintroducing compulsory military service and raising defense spending above 5% of GDP, while Washington keeps arming Segarro on the Mediterranean flank. The Eastern countries, more exposed on the frontier, do not want to suddenly give up American personnel and equipment. And among the ranks of disloyal allies, Spain appears; defenders of the current framework reply that it is Washington, not Madrid, that is failing to comply.

If commercial logic prevails, the Alliance will survive as an arms-selling franchise, with Europe paying the fees. If European geopolitical logic wakes up in time, perhaps the exam will serve some purpose. But both things cannot happen at once.