The New York Times German and U.K. Leaders Sign Mutual Defense Pact as U.S. Steps Back - Mark Landler reported from London, and Jim Tankersley from Berlin. July 17, 2025 Updated 1:32 p.m. ET

 The New York Times 

German and U.K. Leaders Sign Mutual Defense Pact as U.S. Steps Back

The new treaty includes a pledge by both countries to regard a threat against one as a threat against the other, in the latest sign of European nations uniting amid growing instability.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain and Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany wearing suits and ties and walking outside.

The Anglo-German accord, signed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain and Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, covers energy, economic cooperation and migration, in addition to defense.Credit...Pool photo by Leon Neal

Mark LandlerJim Tankersley

By Mark Landler and Jim Tankersley

Mark Landler reported from London, and Jim Tankersley from Berlin.

July 17, 2025

Updated 1:32 p.m. ET

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There was no horse-drawn carriage ride or banquet at Windsor Castle, as during last week’s state visit of President Emmanuel Macron of France. But when Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a landmark defense treaty on Thursday, it added another layer to a portrait of Europe uniting against foreign threats.

The Anglo-German accord, known as the Kensington Treaty, pledges that both countries will “assist one another, including by military means, in case of an armed attack on the other.” That echoed language adopted by Britain and France, which agreed after Mr. Macron’s visit last week to more closely coordinate their nuclear arsenals in responding to threats against European allies.

The accord is further evidence of how European leaders are pulling together to confront a landscape scrambled by President Trump’s “America First” foreign policy and President Vladimir V. Putin’s relentless assault on Ukraine.

In addition to defense and security, the treaty covers energy, economic cooperation and migration. It builds on an agreement signed last October, under which the countries agreed to conduct joint military exercises and develop sophisticated weapons.

Mr. Merz, a center-right leader who came to power in May, has swiftly emerged as a linchpin in Europe’s effort to build a more independent role in its security since the return of Mr. Trump to the White House. Mr. Starmer, who welcomed Mr. Merz to 10 Downing Street, has likewise tried to position Britain as a critical player in European support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“We see the scale of the challenges our continent faces today and we intend to meet them head on,” said Mr. Starmer, standing next to Mr. Merz at an Airbus space and defense factory in Hertfordshire, north of London.

“We are really on the way to a new chapter,” Mr. Merz said, noting that Russia’s aggression was “shaking the European security architecture” and that the trans-Atlantic alliance was undergoing “a far-reaching transformation.”

Neither Mr. Merz nor Mr. Starmer said much about Mr. Trump, though the chancellor praised the president for announcing earlier this week that the United States would supply new weapons to Ukraine through NATO. “Europe and the United States are pulling in the same direction here,” Mr. Merz said.

Germany does not possess nuclear weapons, but it is the third-largest supplier of military hardware to Ukraine, after the United States and Britain, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Under Mr. Merz, Germany has agreed to increase its military spending to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2029, its most ambitious rearmament since the end of the Cold War.

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Britain and Germany have both made strides in recent years in tightening security cooperation with France, said Mark Leonard, the director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a research organization. But the British-German relationship has been slower to evolve. “The signing of this treaty really is a big step forward,” he said.

Georgina Wright, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Paris, said the treaty was an “easy win” for the countries, since Britain and Germany had no institutional framework that formalized their cooperation on defense. For all its symbolism, however, she said the treaty would never be as important to Germany as its defense and security ties with France, its continental neighbor.

“This was about plugging a very clear gap,” Ms. Wright said.

Still, Mr. Merz seemed tickled that the accord was signed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in Kensington. The museum, he said, was chosen because it was named after Queen Victoria and her German-born husband, Prince Albert, famous for their long, happy marriage. It was a hopeful omen for the treaty, he joked.

German officials even referred to the treaty as a “friendship contract,” intended to bring the two countries closer at a time of heightened security concerns, and to bridge divides that had been opened by Britain’s exit from the European Union.

At a time of economic stagnation in Britain and Germany, the friendship agreement includes steps to strengthen commercial ties, from a scientific research partnership to improved rail connections. It also features several measures related to migration.

These include new cooperation to combat human trafficking and more targeted efforts to make it easier for British and German citizens to visit each other’s countries. Frequent travelers from Britain, for example, will be able to pass through German airports more easily.

Mr. Starmer thanked Mr. Merz for a change in German law that allows authorities to seize small boats being stored in the country. “It’s a clear sign we mean business,” the prime minister said, noting that it built on the deal he signed last week with France to curb illegal migrant crossings of the English Channel.

For reasons of diplomatic protocol, Mr. Merz’s visit was more modest and businesslike than that of Mr. Macron. Unlike Mr. Macron, Mr. Merz is not a head of state (Germany has a largely ceremonial president). Mr. Starmer is the chancellor’s host, while King Charles III invited Mr. Macron, reciprocating for his own state visit to France in 2023.

When Mr. Trump makes a rare second state visit to Britain in mid-September, he, like Mr. Macron, will get the full ruffles and flourishes. Later this month, Mr. Trump will make a semiprivate visit to his two golf clubs in Scotland. He is expected to meet with Mr. Starmer, though not with the king, while there.

Still, the lack of pomp and pageantry for Mr. Merz says little about the importance of the relationship between him and Mr. Starmer.

Both are centrist leaders, struggling to govern in polarized political systems. Both are also relatively new, meaning they could work together for years. Mr. Starmer just marked his first anniversary in Downing Street; Mr. Macron, by contrast, is in the twilight of his presidency, with elections in France scheduled for 2027.

Stephen Castle contributed reporting

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Mark Landler is the London bureau chief of The Times, covering the United Kingdom, as well as American foreign policy in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has been a journalist for more than three decades.

Jim Tankersley is the Berlin bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

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