JD Vance: US could be stripped of NATO support if EU tries to regulate X

“The head of government – I forget which official within the European Union it was exactly – sent Elon this threatening letter that essentially said, ‘We will arrest you if you give Donald Trump a platform,'” Vance said.

“The Americans should say: If NATO wants us to continue to support them, and if NATO wants us to continue to be a good participant in this military alliance, why don’t you respect American values ​​and free speech?” he continued, adding that it was “crazy that we support a military alliance when that military alliance is not for free speech.”

Vance was apparently referring to a letter that Thierry Breton, then EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, posted on X in August.

Breton addressed the letter to Musk before the X owner’s much-publicized interview with Trump and warned him against spreading “harmful content.”

Breton wrote that Musk and X had a duty to comply with EU law and guarantee freedom of expression and information, while ensuring that “all appropriate and effective measures are taken to curb the spread of harmful content related to relevant events.”

The EU Commission had already declared in July that X did not comply with the EU Digital Services Act with regard to advertising transparency and its policy on verified accounts.

Breton said the commission’s preliminary findings indicate that X’s blue ticks “deceive users” and violate the DSA.

Responding to the findings, Musk said on his social media platform that the European Commission had previously offered X “an illegal secret deal.”

“If we were to silently censor speech without telling anyone, they wouldn’t fine us. The other platforms have accepted that deal. X hasn’t,” he added.

Despite Musk’s longstanding fight for free speech, he had previously blocked the X-accounts (then Twitter) of several journalists who had reported on or criticized him.

Business Insider has reached out to Vance’s representatives for comment.

In the run-up to the US elections in November, tensions between the US and NATO once again came into the spotlight.

Trump has long been pushing NATO members to increase their defense spending.

In February, the former president even suggested that the US could allow Russia to attack non-paying NATO countries – much to the chagrin of the White House.

In 2006, NATO defence ministers agreed to allocate at least two percent of their GDP to finance the alliance. However, some countries – including Canada and Spain – have not contributed more than this amount.

According to NATO estimates, Poland will be the largest NATO country spending money on the EU in 2024, with 4.12 percent of its GDP. Estonia is in second place with 3.43 percent, while the United States is in third place with 3.38 percent.

NATO, for its part, has acknowledged that there is a historic imbalance between US military spending and that of its non-US allies.

In July, a post on the alliance’s website stated: “The level of US defense spending is equivalent to about two-thirds of the defense spending of the entire alliance.”

“However, this is not the amount that the United States contributes to NATO’s operational operations, which are shared with all allies according to the principle of joint financing,” it added.