The European Union has threatened the Trump administration with retaliation if the European Union favors European arms manufacturers over their American counterparts, according to a report in Politico. The warning, according to the publication, was sent by the U.S. Department of Defense during the Commission’s consultations on the issue to advance the process of rearming Europe.

“The United States strongly opposes any change to the directive that would limit the ability of US industry to support or otherwise participate in the national defense procurement of EU member states,” was, according to Politico, the message from the US Pentagon.

“Protectionist and exclusionary policies that forcibly remove U.S. companies from the market – while Europe’s largest defense companies continue to benefit greatly from access to the United States market – are the wrong policy,” Washington said.

According to Politico, the stance is a paradox in the US approach to Europe: While the Trump administration has repeatedly told the Europeans that it wants them to take over most of the conventional defense of the Old Continent, the US doesn’t want that to come at the expense of US defense companies.

Earlier in December, Politico reported that US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau had criticized NATO’s European allies in a closed meeting for prioritizing their own defense industry over US arms suppliers.

The strong reaction from the Trump administration also threatens to complicate any broader effort by the European Commission to promote European products while testing the extent to which European countries are willing to go to become more independent of the U.S., which has become an increasingly unreliable partner in the Trump era, Politico writes.

It is noted that in 2026 the Commission is expected to present an update to the 2009 public procurement directive amid efforts to adopt the “buy European” rule, but it is unclear whether the new text will include binding rules favoring European manufacturers.

Retaliation

The Pentagon has warned that any move to include a strong “buy European” clause in future procurement legislation would trigger retaliation from the US.

“If European preference measures are implemented in member states’ national procurement laws, the United States will likely reconsider all existing general exemptions and exceptions to the ‘Buy American’ laws provided or enacted in connection with [Mutual Defense Procurement Agreements],” the US Department of Defense wrote, a development that would mean the US would close access to European companies.

Some 19 of the 27 EU capitals have signed such agreements with Washington, which allow European companies to compete for certain Pentagon contracts.

“Thereafter, any future exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis and only when deemed necessary to support NATO’s interoperability and standardization requirements.”

According to Washington, a “buy European” clause for national procurement would limit the freedom of capitals, weaken NATO and jeopardize the ability of European countries to meet the alliance’s capability goals agreed last year. The US administration also argues that this would run counter to EU commitments under the US-EU trade deal signed last summer, in which the European Commission pledged to buy more US weapons.

“European preference language has already been included in all EU programmes, but its inclusion in the directive will be a turning point in terms of its impact on the sovereignty and national budgets of individual member states,” the Trump administration wrote.