US Allies Not Willing to Send Warships

US Allies Rebuff Trump: Not Willing to Send Warships

Trump has been turning the screws, but so far with little movement from our European allies.

• Trump demanded allies send warships to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — and got mostly cold shoulders
• Japan, South Korea, Britain, Australia and Germany all declined or stalled
• China, unusually called upon despite being a U.S. rival, stayed silent
• Trump warned the rebuff could be “very bad for the future of NATO”

Washington Times: The responses were underwhelming. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his government would not be “drawn into a wider war.” Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Tokyo was still examining what actions fell within Japanese law. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said his government was cooperating closely with Washington — without offering commitments. Germany, which Mr. Trump didn’t even call upon, volunteered a rejection anyway (Washington Times).

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Tokyo is not sending any warships to the Strait of Hormuz for now.

She told parliament Japan will stick to diplomacy and protecting its own cargo ships instead because of legal limits on overseas military missions.

Source: APT… https://t.co/DV1S6DekUB pic.twitter.com/1rHKbeZKgD

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 17, 2026

Wall Street Journal:

President Trump is pressuring allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and relieve pressure on the global economy. So far, most of them aren’t biting.

Germany has rejected taking part, while Japan and Australia have indicated they are unlikely to send vessels to help. Britain and France said they are assessing possible action but haven’t committed to doing anything before fighting halts. All are close U.S. allies.

On Monday, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius dismissed Trump’s call for help, asking rhetorically what Trump expects “a handful or two handfuls of European frigates to accomplish in the Strait of Hormuz that the powerful U.S. Navy there cannot achieve on its own?”

“This is not our war. We did not start it,” he said.

Does the Refusal of Our Western European Allies to Aid Us Threaten NATO?

Too many of our allies are sclerotic and seem determined to remain on their glide path to managed decline.

“It would be unfortunate if the end of the Iranian nuclear threat (and possibly its fanatical regime) also brought an end to  NATO Sclerosis in some of the old allies —unlike the vigor of the front line states such as Poland—has to oblige every serious nation in the Alliance to ask: What’s our interest in this alliance? During the first Cold War, all of NATO was agreed on the mission. Now the weakest, least equipped states want to tell the U.S. when and how the Alliance will act. It is tragic that these nations, especially Britain and France, have fallen into a crisis of confidence about the West, but they have. NATO may have reached the end of its usefulness to the world. Other alliances can rise to replace it. The U.S.-Israel-Gulf States have an alliance. The U.S. has an alliance of front-line states in Asia. But the decrepit states of old Europe? Sweden and Finland joined and brought energy and military prowess to the table. POTUS is obliging the European nations to choose. Good. The alliance of tyrants —China, Russia, North Korea and for the moment at least Iran— is not impressed by Brussels and EU bureaucrats or U.K. hand-wringing or the lame duck declarations of France’s Macron. Getting serious allies is the challenge for the United States, allies with both capabilities and will.” (Hugh Hewitt).