US envoy to NATO questions EU’s ‘buy local’ strategy on weapons – POLITICO

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  • US envoy to NATO questions EU’s ‘buy local’ strategy on weapons
    https://www.politico.eu/article/us-envoy-to-nato-questions-eus-buy-local-strategy-on-weapons

    BRUSSELS — Washington has “concerns” about EU moves to prioritize buying European weapons, saying that strategy will often fail to offer the cheapest or quickest way to get arms to Ukraine and other states in need, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to NATO argued in an interview.

    Julianne Smith’s comments to POLITICO in an exit interview after three years in the job cut to the heart of one of the biggest debates about European plans for what it calls strategic autonomy.

    Facing the potential return of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, France is leading a push for the EU to become more self-sufficient militarily. Under the European Commission’s industrial strategy on defense unveiled earlier this year, the EU’s 27 countries — 23 of which also belong to NATO — set a goal to spend half of their procurement budget solely on EU arms by 2030 — a target that will rise to 60 percent by 2035.