Whether you’re a die-hard supporter of President-elect Donald Trump or a vehement opponent of him, Trump’s landslide election victory is positive in at least one sense. It means that Europe will finally need to take seriously the notion that Americans are fed up with subsidizing the defense of an otherwise wealthy political bloc.

This matters because NATO matters and our European allies matter. For one thing, exports to the European Union earned the United States $369 billion in 2023. Exports to the United Kingdom add another $74 billion to that figure. This is high-value trade in products and services. It does not undercut American jobs — it boosts them. And it reinforces the benefits of peace that have underpinned European security and NATO stability since 1945. Trump is wrong to pretend that NATO simply takes from Americans. On the contrary, this most successful alliance delivers manifest benefits to Americans.