NPR.

This is the indicator from planet money.

I'm Patty Hirsch.

And I'm Adrian Ma.

This week, more evidence surfaced of the Trump administration's axe to grind with Europe.

It came from a leaked group chat with texts from Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth.

In this conversation, they're discussing whether to launch a military strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen, which have been disrupting commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Vance said he just hated, quote, bailing Europe out again,

unquote. Hexeth replied, quote, I fully share your loathing of European freeloading. It's pathetic,

unquote. All of this means that things are getting real in Europe.

If Europe wants to avoid war, you must get ready for war.

This was European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at the Royal Danish Military

Academy last week. At the same time, European leaders were working on a rearmament plan,

aimed at decoupling Europe from the U.S.

and lowering its reliance on America for weapons and security.

So today on the show, we'll ask what Europe needs to do to stand alone militarily without America,

how long that might take, and what the barriers could be.

That's coming up after the break.

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