No. 

 

Some Americans believe that our European allies take advantage of our military protection without paying their fair share — and that the United States receives nothing in return.  This is a false premise.  

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As the Atlantic Council says, "The United States’ relationship with its friends and allies is not a one-way street, where the United States makes, and the allies take.  NATO members, and NATO as an institution, all make important contributions to U.S. national security, even as the United States rightly encourages them to do more for their own defense and to advance global security. Sometimes these contributions are very direct and visible; at other times, they do not make the headlines. The United States derives many quantifiable benefits from being a leading member of the transatlantic alliance.  The NATO commitment of 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for defense spending is the most visible metric used to measure allied political commitment to burden-sharing across the alliance. However, that metric does not measure the output and quality of allied defense contributions.  It says even less about how NATO relates to broader U.S. security and economic interests."  Read the entire report here.