The Pentagon states that rebalancing European and U.S. defense contributions is essential, but stopping the Tomahawk sale reveals a more alarming truth: Washington is not only refraining from deploying deep precision strike systems to Europe but also preventing its European allies from acquiring these systems due to concerns over Russia’s reaction. This reflects the U.S.’s active pursuit of decoupling its security from Europe’s.
Decoupling issues in transatlantic relations are not new. They first emerged in the late 1950s when the Soviet Union gained the capability to target the U.S. and re-emerged in the mid-1970s when the Soviet Union deployed SS-20 nuclear ballistic missiles capable of reaching all of Europe but not the U.S.
In response to then-German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt’s call, NATO countries agreed in 1979 to deploy long-range nuclear missiles targeting the Soviet Union, while proposing negotiations to limit such missiles. By 1987, this led to the deployment of hundreds of nuclear missiles by NATO, resulting in an agreement between Washington and Moscow to ban all intermediate-range nuclear forces with ranges between 500 and 5,000 kilometers, including the Soviet SS-20s and NATO’s ground-launched cruise and Pershing II missiles.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed in 1987, lasted for over 30 years, until 2019, when U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from it due to Russia’s violations. Since then, NATO has been discussing deploying long-range missiles targeting Russia.
Plans for Tomahawk deployment and sale to Berlin aimed to bridge the gap until Germany and other NATO nations could develop and deploy their long-range missile systems. While European missile development is underway, deployments are years away. Now, Washington’s decision to halt the sale reopens a significant gap in NATO’s deterrence strategy.
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