Senior U.S. official accuses the European Union of bullying American defense industry.

The rift between the United States and the European Union in defense cooperation is being further torn apart. Just as Europe is pushing for "defense localization" on a large scale, trying to reduce its dependence on the US, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau was reported to have challenged the EU at a NATO foreign ministers' meeting, accusing the EU of "bullying" American defense companies and excluding them from the "rearming Europe" plan. According to the European edition of "Politico", citing three NATO diplomats, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was notably absent from the NATO foreign ministers' meeting held on December 3rd local time, and Landau, who attended on his behalf, was the first to speak at the closed-door meeting, warning countries not to use policies to "squeeze out" American defense companies from the European market. After his speech, Landau immediately left to attend other meetings. An official from the US State Department directly stated that Landau conveyed two key messages: firstly, urging Europe to truly convert defense spending commitments into actual capabilities; secondly, emphasizing that protectionist, exclusionary policies that bully American companies out of the market are weakening our collective defense capabilities.