Donald Trump's tactic of using threats to get what he wants in business and politics is something political leaders worldwide are gradually growing accustomed to. But the deal to end the Ukraine war the US president is apparently forging behind the scenes with Russian President Vladimir Putin has rattled government leaders, especially in Europe, who fear Trump could withdraw US military protection of the continent.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has responded to these concerns by announcing an increase in the UK's defense budget to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027, up from the current 2.3%. He emphasized that this investment would have to be followed up with more defense spending in the coming years and would reflect the UK's commitment to "securing a just and enduring peace in Ukraine and the need for Europe to step up for the good of collective European security."

Following recent elections in Germany, the CDU/CSU bloc of conservative leader Friedrich Merz and the Social Democrats (SPD) of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who are in exploratory talks about forming a coalition, have agreed on a deal to unlock billions of loans and debt to boost the country's ailing economy and ramp up defence spending in light of the US policy shift.

Under the deal struck on Tuesday (March 4), the two parties are planning to create a special fund of about €500 billion ($528 billion) to fix Germany's crumbling
infrastructure, while looking to ease strict constitutional rules on taking on new government debt for specific defence investments.

In the election campaign, Merz always ruled........

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