{"id":303739,"date":"2025-02-18T07:40:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T07:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=303739"},"modified":"2025-02-19T08:28:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T08:28:00","slug":"defense-stocks-tumble-after-trump-proposes-military-spending-cuts-while-european-defense-firms-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=303739","title":{"rendered":"Defense stocks tumble after Trump proposes military spending cuts, while European defense firms surge"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Cassie B. \u2013 Natural News Feb 17, 2025<\/strong><\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>U.S. defense stocks plunged after President Trump proposed cutting the military budget by half, causing major contractors like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to lose significant value.<\/li>\n<li>European defense stocks surged as leaders discussed increasing military spending, with companies like Rheinmetall and BAE Systems seeing double-digit gains.<\/li>\n<li>Trump\u2019s mixed messaging on defense spending, including calls for cost-cutting while emphasizing military strength, has created uncertainty in the U.S. defense sector.<\/li>\n<li>European leaders proposed exempting defense spending from EU fiscal rules, enabling member states to boost military budgets without financial penalties.<\/li>\n<li>The contrasting trends reflect a potential shift in global defense priorities, with Europe taking on a larger security role as the U.S. considers reducing its military footprint.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>U.S. defense stocks plummeted this week after President Donald Trump suggested halving the nation\u2019s military budget, sending shockwaves through the defense industry. Meanwhile, European defense stocks soared as leaders across the continent discussed ramping up military spending, signaling a potential shift in global defense priorities.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Trump\u2019s proposal rattles U.S. defense sector<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>On Thursday, President Trump announced at a White House press conference that he plans to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/612780-trump-defense-stocks-crashing\/\">discuss significant cuts<\/a> to U.S. military spending with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. \u201cWhen we straighten it all out, then one of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi of China and President Putin of Russia, and I want to say let\u2019s cut our military budget in half. And we can do that, and I think we\u2019ll be able to do that,&#8221; Trump said.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement sent shares of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/02\/13\/defense-stocks-drop-after-trump-says-defense-spending-could-be-halved.html\">major defense contractors<\/a> tumbling. Lockheed Martin dropped 4.86%, Northrop Grumman fell 6.58%, and General Dynamics declined 5.30%. These companies, which have benefited from increased demand for weapons and equipment amid the Ukraine conflict, now face uncertainty as the Trump administration pushes for cost-cutting measures.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s mixed messaging on defense spending has left investors and analysts puzzled. While he has emphasized the importance of a strong military, he has also tasked Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency with identifying ways to reduce federal spending, including at the Pentagon.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>European defense stocks rally amid spending talks<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Across the Atlantic, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/europe\/european-defence-stocks-surge-top-leaders-hold-summit-ukraine-2025-02-17\/\">European defense stocks<\/a> surged as leaders gathered to discuss boosting military budgets. On Monday, shares of German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall soared 11%, while Sweden\u2019s Saab AB and Britain\u2019s BAE Systems gained 11% and 6%, respectively. Italy\u2019s Leonardo and France\u2019s Thales also saw significant increases, rising more than 5%.<\/p>\n<p>The rally followed an emergency summit in Paris, where European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, discussed how to respond to Trump\u2019s sidelining of Europe in Ukraine peace talks. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed exempting defense spending from the bloc\u2019s fiscal rules, allowing member states to increase military budgets without triggering excessive deficit procedures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEurope needs to increase its defense spending, and we\u2019ll be keeping a close eye on how this affects national budgets,\u201d said Alberto Conca, CIO at Swiss asset manager LFG+ZEST. \u201cDefense stocks are a theme that\u2019s likely to continue to gain momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>A shifting global defense landscape<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The contrasting fortunes of U.S. and European defense stocks highlight a broader shift in global defense dynamics. While the U.S. contemplates reducing its military footprint, Europe appears poised to take on a larger role in its own security. This comes as Trump has repeatedly called for NATO members to increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP, up from the current 2% target.<\/p>\n<p>However, the U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalsecurity.news\/\">defense sector\u2019s recent struggles<\/a> may be temporary. Analysts note that Trump\u2019s proposal is still in its early stages and faces significant political and logistical hurdles. \u201cRight now, people are confused by a number of different crosscurrents\u201d on defense spending, TD Cowen policy analyst Roman Schweizer told CNBC.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources for this article include:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/612780-trump-defense-stocks-crashing\/\">RT.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/02\/13\/defense-stocks-drop-after-trump-says-defense-spending-could-be-halved.html\">CNBC.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/europe\/european-defence-stocks-surge-top-leaders-hold-summit-ukraine-2025-02-17\/\">Reuters.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/02\/17\/european-markets-live-updates-stocks-news-data-and-earnings.html\">CNBC.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.naturalnews.com\/2025-02-17-defense-stocks-trump-military-spending.html\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Trump announced at a recent press conference that he plans to discuss significant cuts to U.S. military spending with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":119956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-303739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Economics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=303739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303740,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303739\/revisions\/303740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/119956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=303739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=303739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=303739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}