By Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Lili Bayer
WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) -President Donald Trump’s administration announced on Thursday its nomination for the next top U.S. general in Europe and said the U.S. military officer would also assume the traditional role of Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
Trump’s decision to nominate U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich to both roles, which was first reported by Reuters, will relieve European NATO allies and even some of Trump’s fellow Republicans amid concerns about a retrenchment in American military leadership of NATO.
Grynkewich must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
The position of SACEUR, which oversees all NATO operations in Europe, has been filled by a U.S. general since its creation after World War Two. U.S. Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower became the alliance’s first SACEUR in 1951.
Still, since taking office in January, Trump’s administration has pressured NATO allies to ramp up their defense spending, saying Europe should be primarily responsible for defense on the European continent.
Trump has also said he wants NATO allies to boost investment in defense to 5% of gross domestic product, up from the current target of 2%.
Speaking at NATO headquarters earlier on Thursday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was confident that members of the NATO alliance would agree to a major boost in defense spending.
No country is yet at 5%, not even the U.S., but Hegseth said there was progress on agreeing to the target.
“I’m very encouraged by what we heard in there,” Hegseth said after a morning meeting of NATO defense ministers on Thursday in Brussels. “Countries in there are well exceeding 2% and we think very close, almost near consensus, on a 5% commitment to NATO.”
Grynkewich, who is now the director for operations at the U.S. military’s Joint Staff, would succeed Army General Christopher Cavoli, who has been in the role since shortly after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, helping oversee billions of dollars in U.S. security assistance to Kyiv.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Lili Bayer; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Marguerita Choy)
