PUBLISHED on August 13, 2025, 9:56 AM EDT – Key Points and Summary – President Trump’s aggressive trade policies are causing a major backlash in Europe, jeopardizing multi-billion-dollar F-35 fighter jet deals.
-Switzerland is now on the verge of canceling its order for 36 jets after being hit with a massive 39% tariff, a move that has sparked political outrage and calls for a new referendum.
-The turmoil is not isolated; Spain has already abandoned its F-35 plans in favor of European alternatives, and officials in Denmark are now openly calling American weapons a “security risk,” reflecting a growing distrust of the U.S. as a reliable long-term partner.
The F-35 Is In Trouble In Europe
BERLIN, GERMANY – U.S. President Donald J. Trump has decided to levy a 39 percent tariff on Swiss exports to the United States, more than double the rate applied to goods from the European Union, and the highest tariff rate imposed on any developed, high-income country.
“A country that throws stones at us in trade should not receive a gift,” said Green Party MP Balthasar Glättli, to Handelsblatt, a German business daily based in Düsseldorf, referencing the F-35 stealth fighter deal agreed to with Bern. Cedric Wermuth, co-president of the Swiss Social Democrats, also called for a new referendum “so that the population can stop the procurement.”
Referendums are an integral part of the Swiss governing structure, and citizens are constitutionally empowered to vote on many laws and constitutional changes of consequence, a strong check on the legislative and executive branches.
In theory, Swiss citizens could take to the polls and torpedo the F-35 deal. In 2022, a Swiss group opposing the purchase of the F-35 collected over 100,000 signatures, triggering a referendum on halting the deal. That initiative, however, failed.
This time around, popular backlash against being singled out by President Trump will likely prompt more people to join the ‘no on F-35 camp’ and breathe fresh life into that previously failed initiative.
“The F-35 fighter jets have now become a political issue again,” Hans-Peter Portmann, a Swiss lawmaker, told Swiss media. “In the current situation, we cannot simply carry on as if nothing had happened. The question is whether we should pull the ripcord.”
The F-35 Is In Trouble in Europe
In Portmann’s eyes, there are two possibilities, neither of which bodes well for the F-35 in Switzerland. “Either we accept a loss and terminate the contract – or we only take delivery of what we have already paid for, stop the next delivery tranches from the US and fill our defense gaps with purchases from Europe. This now needs to be carefully examined.”
The United States signed a contract with Switzerland for the F-35s in 2022, covering the purchase of 36 of the stealthy fifth-generation fighters, to be delivered between 2027 and 2030. However,
Swiss Defense Minister Martin Pfister recently admitted that the F-35 purchase would cost more — more than a billion Swiss francs, or approximately $1.23 billion.
A further cause for consternation in Bern is the revelation that the deal — despite the significant price increase — would leave the jets under-armed.
Fully a third, or 12 of the aircraft, would not be delivered with sufficient weaponry, Le Monde reported. In the increasingly likely case of another referendum on the F-35, public sentiment is likely to have soured considerably since the last vote in 2022.
Not Just the Swiss Who Could Dump F-35…
But Switzerland is not the only country finding that the American F-35 program has left a bad taste in its mouth.
700 miles away from Bern, in Madrid, at the Spanish capital, the choice has already been made. Spain will not buy into the F-35 program.
Instead, Spain’s Ministry of Defense will choose between the Eurofighter Typhoon, a multinational, European-made multi-role fighter, and the Future Combat Air System, or FCAS, a forthcoming European-built and designed sixth-generation fighter. Spain is a core partner of both projects.
Madrid’s rejection of the F-35 fighter stems from the country’s push to spend most of their defense euros on European military kit and diversify away from what is still an American-dominated arms market, meaning the 6.25 billion euros, or about 7.2 billion dollars set aside for new fighter jets in 2023 will be spent in Europe, rather than America.
The F-35 Revolt in Europe?
Several other European countries — and long-time allies of the United States — have openly expressed skepticism and outright distrust of the F-35 program, as well as of the United States as a steadfast and reliable ally under the Trump administration.
Rasmus Jarlov, the Chairman of Denmark’s Defense Committee, took to X, formerly Twitter, to sound alarm bells.
“I can easily imagine a situation where the USA will demand Greenland from Denmark and will threaten to deactivate our weapons [F-35s] and let Russia attack us when we refuse (which we will even in that situation).
“Therefore,” Jarlov wrote, “buying American weapons is a security risk that we can not run. We will make enormous investments in air defence, fighter jets, artillery and other weapons in the coming years, and we must avoid American weapons if at all possible.” Additionally, he wrote, “I encourage our allies and friends to do the same.
Earlier this year, the Portuguese appeared to waffle on the F-35, seemingly in response to President Trump and Vice President Vance’s belligerence and open hostility toward Denmark, as well as threats to annex Greenland, an autonomous territory administered by Denmark, by invasion if necessary.
Following that episode, concerns were raised that the United States government retains control over an F-35 kill switch that could deactivate allied F-35s with the flick of a button.
While that is not the case, the United States does have a monopoly on the supply of F-35 spare parts and could, in effect, end the operational use of F-35s by cutting off that part supply.
F-35: What Happens Now?
Though President Trump touts his ability to strike deals with anyone, anywhere, for the F-35 program, it is increasingly clear that the President’s deal-making ability has been an enormous hindrance to the stealth fighter program, rather than a solid sales pitch.
Though the President is unlikely to kill the program outright — the United States alone purchases the lion’s share of F-35s — he seems to have seriously undermined their potential sales abroad.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
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Angus H Day
August 15, 2025 at 2:32 pm
Not certain the F-35 was ever going to be a GREAT idea considering how unstable US Economic and Foreign policies have become due to the extreme swings of administrations, reneging/rolling back government commitments that have already been funded and the infantile idea that hammering allies with tariffs is in our interest because we’re going to be the ones paying them…So, F-35 – over-engineered with sourcing too complicated and another aircraft that crews are going to be in a panick to learn to fly because any breakage will cost a million dollars to fix. What a GREAT idea.
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