Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth admonished NATO allies Thursday both to “take primary responsibility” for the defense of Europe — and that spending anything below 5% of annual gross domestic product on their militaries is “not enough.”

“Our European allies should take primary responsibility for defense of the continent, which means security ownership by all allies, guided by a clear understanding of strategic realities,” Hegseth told reporters following a defense ministerial meeting in Brussels, part of his first overseas trip.

“That begins with increasing defense spending,” he said.

“Two percent is a start, as President Trump has said, but it’s not enough, nor is 3%, nor is 4% — more like 5%.”

“We can talk all we want about values. Values are important, but you can’t shoot values. You can’t shoot flags and you can’t shoot strong speeches,” Hegseth added.

“There is no replacement for hard power.”

Trump has long claimed that NATO nations aren’t shouldering enough of the defense burden on the continent, provocatively threatening during his successful 2024 campaign that he would let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” to European nations if they didn’t pony up.

On Thursday, Hegseth invoked President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1959 gripe that European reliance on US forces to keep the peace and forestall Soviet expansion following the Second World War was “making a sucker out of Uncle Sam.”

“Like President Eisenhower, this administration believes in alliances, deeply believes in alliances,” the Pentagon leader told the foreign dignitaries.

“But make no mistake, President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker.”

Hegseth also tried to walk back comments he made during a Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting the day before, in which he said that the US “does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement” of the three-year-old war with Russia.

“That’s something that was stated as part of my remarks here as part of a coordination with how we’re executing these ongoing negotiations, which are led by President Trump,” the Pentagon chief said.

“All of that said, these negotiations are led by President Trump. Everything is on the table.”

Hegseth did stand by some of his other inflammatory remarks from Wednesday, including that “returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” the pursuit of which “will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”

“Simply pointing out realism like the borders won’t be rolled back to what everybody would like them to be in 2014 is not a concession to [Russian President] Vladimir Putin,” he said Thursday.

“It’s a recognition of the hard power realities on the ground after a lot of investment and sacrifice.”

Hegseth declined to discuss the “parameters” of a possible deal between Russia and Ukraine further, but said: “Trump, as a deal maker and a businessman, recognizes that an investment relationship with Ukraine, ultimately, in the long term for the United States, is a lot more tangible than any promises or shared values we might have.”

On Wednesday, the president spoke with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying Washington and Moscow had agreed to pursue peace negotiations “immediately.”

Other Trump administration officials — including Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — are also spending time in Europe this week, with Vance due to join the Ukrainian president at the weekend Munich Security Conference.