The Significance of U.S. Defense Cooperation Agreements in Northern Europe

The growing prospect of Donald Trump re-entering the White House next year is fueling concerns in Europe that the United States may soon scale back its security commitments to the region. Yet a flurry of defense agreements recently signed by the United States in the Nordic-Baltic region suggests not a withdrawal but rather a transformation of Washington's strategic engagement in the region in the coming years, regardless of who wins the U.S. presidential election in November. Three separate defense agreements with Sweden, Finland and Denmark -- which, together, grant U.S. troops and weapons access to 35 new military bases across the Baltic and the Arctic regions -- offer a glimpse of NATO's transforming deterrence and collective security approach in the region in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and of the role the United States will play in this transformation....