Europeans Less Able, Americans Less Willing?

While the challenge of transatlantic burden-sharing is not new, the economic — or more specifically budgetary — context has accelerated power shifting from West to East and led both Europeans and Americans to spend less on defense. This article argues that the convergence of the United States redesigning of its global strategy — and more specifically its 'rebalancing' toward Asia — and of the contraction of European military capabilities due to the lasting economic crisis will strongly affect the transatlantic partnership and demand significant efforts to rethink the strategic division of labor between the United States and European powers.