EU’s Kallas welcomes Trump’s ‘tough love’ on arms spending

"Tough love" is better than no love, the EU’s chief diplomat said in response to criticism from United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Europe’s military spending.

"It's love nonetheless, so it's better than no love," Kaja Kallas told reporters on Saturday at a defense forum in Singapore.

"You heard his speech. He was actually quite positive about Europe, so there's definitely some love there," she said.

Hegseth previously told delegates at the Singapore conference that "we're pushing our allies in Europe to own more of their own security — to invest in their defense."

"Thanks to President Trump, they are stepping up," Hegseth said. He described Poland and the Baltic States as "model allies."

Pointing to divisions within Europe over military spending, Kallas said "some of us have realized a long time ago that we need to invest in defense."

"The European Union has shifted gear and reimagined our own paradigm as a peace project backed up with hard defense," she said.

European countries formally adopted a €150 billion military spending package earlier this week.

EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubiliu said Wednesday that Europe must avoid an “angry divorce” with the U.S., warning it was “almost unavoidable that we shall need to stand on our own two feet in defense matters in Europe, because Americans will more and more withdraw.”

"It is a good thing we are doing more, but what I want to stress is that the security of Europe and the security of the Pacific is very much interlinked," Kallas said in Singapore, citing Chinese supplies to Russia and North Korean soldiers fighting for Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.