US Allies and Nuclear Weapons Cooperation

The United States maintains a national security strategy that recognises the distinctions between different regions of the world and appreciates the allies with whom it shares common values and worldviews.For many of America's allies, this commitment includes US nuclear deterrence guarantees.US national security strategy highlights the importance of maintaining peace and security in the regions, ensuring the defence of close allies and partners, and negating the efforts of regional or global adversaries.This chapter examines and compares the extended deterrence arrangements in Europe with those in the Indo-Pacific.While there remain important differences between the two regions-most notably the degree of formal structure underpinning nuclear sharing in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-both sets of arrangements fulfill the key purpose of reassuring US allies that Washington would come to their assistance if their security was threatened.The US has particularly longstanding linkages with the states of Europe.However, in the Indo-Pacific, it also has close relations with a number of democratic nations, including economic, political, trade and military partnerships.As one analyst has written, 'the grave obligations associated with the US nuclear guarantees to Seoul and Tokyo are consistent with