After decades of prioritizing domestic over military spending, the continent’s leaders are trying to pivot. That is straining national budgets and could anger voters.
A weapons factory in Herstal, Belgium, this year. Most European countries have realized that they need to spend a lot more on guns to reduce their military dependence on the United States.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz laid out his complaints in a frank message to his hosts on a trip to Beijing that China had designed to showcase their relationship.