EU facing huge crisis as US urged to 'withhold' forces from Europe to fight China

Trump repeatedly told EU countries to boost their defence spending (Image: Getty)

A senior Republican figure in the US has called for the country to "withhold" American forces from Europe to focus on the growing threat from China.

The comments were made by Elbridge Colby, a senior Pentagon official in the last Donald Trump administration, according to the BBC.

Mr Colby has been vocal about the threat of China and has also been tipped to serve a prominent role in Donald Trump's administration should he win the US election this month.

He told Politico earlier this year that China poses an even bigger threat than Russia.

The senior Republican figure also urged Europe to pull its weight when it comes to defence spending, accusing leaders of "staging photo ops promising in the future that they’re going to spend more."

Colby could have a key role in Trump's administration (Image: Getty)

He added that Europe needs to start "fielding credible combat forces that can assume the primary burden of the conventional defense of Europe against the Russians."

The former Trump adviser continued: "For countries meeting their defense obligations - and not in terms of accounting trickery but with real forces - those countries should get treated best by the America.

"We should look in an integrated way at our alliances and partnerships. And we should be prepared to use carrots and sticks to incentivise the right kind of behavior from our point of view."

During his presidency, Donald Trump repeatedly criticised European countries for failing to meet their targets of spending 2% percent of GDP on defence.

Europe relies heavily on US support when it comes to defence (Image: Getty)

In recent months, Mr Trump has also suggested that NATO members should spend 3%.

In February, the former president sparked controversy when he said he would "encourage" Russia to attack any NATO member that has failed to meet its defence spending commitments.

He said: "NATO was busted until I came along. I said, 'Everybody’s gonna pay.' They said, ‘Well, if we don’t pay, are you still going to protect us?’ I said, 'Absolutely not'. They couldn’t believe the answer.

"No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills."