European leaders are silent on Tuesday after the text exchange between Minister of Defense Pete Hegseeth And vice-president JD Vance, who noticed their “disgust” of their long-existing allies.
“I share your disgust of European free loads. It is pathetic,” said Hegseeth in response to Vance, who questioned American leadership in promoting security policy in the Red Sea to prevent Houthi aggression and reopen shipping strips.
Vance broke from President Donald Trump, who ordered the US to increase strikes against the Houthi -terrorist group in Yemen who, Supported by Iranstarted escalating on attacks on merchant ships along the head trade route after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023 on Israel.
President Donald Trump takes action against the Houthis to defend American shipping assets and to deter terrorist threats, posted the White House on March 15, 2025. (The White House)
After the attacking push earlier this month, Vance, in a Signal Group Chat, text the best security officials of the US, Including Hegseeth, Minister of Foreign Affairs Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and CIA director John Ratcliff, among other things that “3 percent of American trade runs through the (Suez Canal). 40 percent of European trade do.”
“There is a real risk that the public will not understand,” he added in reference to the route that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea and that is vital when connecting shipping from Europe, the Central East and Asia. “I’m not sure if the president knows how inconsistent this is with his message about Europe at the moment.”
“If you think we should do it, let’s go. I just hate to save Europe again,” he added.
Despite the humiliating comments about the American top union, European leaders were noticeably tight in their reaction when Fox News Digital barely did not exist for comments and public statements.
The lack of public retort could suggest that Europe bites its tongue while evaluating how to maintain a relationship with an administration that is routinely fighting the value of his long -standing European allies.
“The reality is that there is certainly an element of European freeloading to trust America as the one country that has the opportunity to really take on the Houthis in an important way and to drive them out,” said Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, a think tank with international things in London, to Fox News Digital. “The Houthis are a desert house that Ragtag Bunch of Terrorists live, and most European countries do not have the capacities to deal with that kind of situation.
From left to right, President Donald Trump, Vice -President JD Vance and Minister of Defense Pete Hegseeth participates in a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in the Oval Office of the White House on February 7, 2025 in Washington, DC, DC (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty images)
“That tells you what the bare European military cupboard is,” he continued. “The idea that 50 years ago that would have been the case would have been laughable, but it is here today.”
In the end, Mendoza argued, there would be an “element of hypocrisy” if Europe would try to reduce the comment.
“So I think that many Europeans, although it doesn’t like to like the way in which this conversation has shown itself … the substance is not really disputed, even if we don’t like the methodology for this conversation,” he added. “And that is why it is probably better to say little about it than to risk this kind of larger argument about sharing loads, again.”
In the Signal Text Exchange, the administration officials said that “further economic profit” should be “in return” should be extracted for the US who take the operational lead -with which some British legislators made the renewed attempt by the Trump administration to state the renewed attempt of “Print” money from his allies.
Moreover, the leader of the Liberal Democrats of the UK, usually a more central party at the Labor Party of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, took to x To say that the text exchange has shown: “JD Vance and his friends are clearly not suitable for feeding a group cat, let alone the strongest military power in the world. It must make our security services nervous about the intelligence we share with them.”
Although the official reactions of countries that want to leave with Trump, such as the UK and France, claimed that they will continue to pursue “collaboration” with Washington.
The UK – whose navy and air force have heavily involved By combating Houthi aggression in the Red Sea next to the US – Fox News Digital told: “The US is our primary ally and we work more closely than all other two countries about defense, intelligence and safety.”
The freightship Rubymar, registered by the British, sinks on March 3 after it was the target of the Houthi troops of Yemen while traveling in the Red Sea. (Al-Joumhouriah Channel via Getty images)
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“The UK is at the forefront of the efforts to safeguard shipping in the Red Sea and has carried out a series of British and joint British strikes in the last two years – to reduce Houthi rebel activa in the region,” said a spokesperson for the British embassy. “Prime Minister (Keir) Starmer has been clear about the need for European countries to increase their safety contribution and the UK has led to announcing a large increase in defense expenditure and committing British troops to a future Ukrainian peace.”
Likewise, a spokesperson for the French embassy said: “France is not the habit of commenting on reported comments, no matter how surprising they are. The United States are our ally and France to continue working with Washington.”
