The US Congress has passed a defence policy bill that mandates the Pentagon retain at least 76,000 troops in Europe, in a rebuke of President Donald Trump’s threats to scale back commitments to the continent.
The National Defense Authorization Act, a sweeping 3,000-page bill that authorises how the Pentagon can spend $900bn, passed the Senate by 77-20 on Wednesday. Trump is expected to sign the bill into law, although Congress has not yet passed the defence department’s funding bill.
The NDAA contrasts sharply on policy towards Europe from Trump’s new national security strategy, which called for “cultivating resistance” on the continent, blasted it for blocking peace in Ukraine and warned it faces “civilisational erasure”.