American allies warn division weakens deterrence in calls for global unity to meet new threats

SINGAPORE (AP) — American allies stressed the need for unity at a top defense conference Sunday, saying that as threats increasingly transcend regions, cooperation is more important than ever, even as Washington has become more critical of its traditional friends.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been extremely harsh about NATO, and the comments at the Shangri-La conference came the day after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth again chided Western European allies at the forum for not devoting enough resources to defense.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi praised Hegseth for his commitment to the Indo-Pacific, but at the same time stressed the continued need for strong coalitions globally.

“Division weakens deterrence, unity strengthens deterrence,” he told the conference, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“If gaps emerge among the United States, Europe, and allies and like-minded countries, forces which take it as an opportunity will surely come in,” he said. “We must prevent such a situation. We must keep our cooperation going on. Now is the time to make our cooperation even stronger.”

As China has been rapidly expanding and modernizing its military, Japan has been reshaping its own defense policy. Last month, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet scrapped a ban on lethal weapons exports, a major change in its postwar pacifist policy.

China criticized the change, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun saying China would “resolutely resist Japan’s reckless moves toward a new type of militarism.”

Koizumi scoffed at that accusation as ironic, coming from China.

“Think about it, there is a country that has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and strategic bombers,” he said, speaking in English. "Japan has neither of such weapons, and yet Japan is labeled new militarism. Isn’t it strange?”

He said that transparency comes from “discussion and dialogue” and lamented that China had not sent its defense minister to the conference.

In his speech Saturday, Hegseth applauded many Asian partners for their efforts to step-up defense spending, while reiterating criticism of European allies, who he suggested got “distracted by empty globalist rhetoric about the rules-based international order, while European capitals threw open their borders and hollowed out their militaries.”

“You can have all the rules you want and rules are great,” Hegseth said. “But if you can’t back them up with hard power, the rules are not worth the paper they are written on.”

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the conference Sunday, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, said he agreed with Hegseth's point that “the rules based order needs to be underpinned by power,” but at the same time said strong rules were “more important today than they have ever been.”

“We are all committed to a rules based system, because that is actually what gives middle powers like Australia or smaller countries agency,” he said.

He also said alliances remain critical to the region's defense.

“This is a collective challenge and it demands a collective response, which is actually what the rules based order is all about,” he said.

Netherlands Defense Minister Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius said the current conflicts have global implications and demand a shared response.

“A war in Europe involves drones from Iran, soldiers and ammunition from North Korea and various types of support from China,” she said. “The lesson is clear: regional tensions are no longer regional. Our security is interconnected.”

She said that if middle powers do not work together, they risk becoming spectators or the “subject of conversations,” but with coalitions they can help preserve stability.

“The fact that international rules are being violated does not mean we should abandon them,” she said.

"On the contrary, it means we must defend them more constantly and more courageously. International law may be imperfect, but history teaches us that the alternative is far worse.”

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles talks to journalists during the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's annual defense and security forum, in Singapore, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Japan's Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, center, shakes hands with Netherland's Defense Minister Dilan Yesilgoz Zegerius, right, during the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's annual defense and security forum, in Singapore, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Malaysia's Defense Minister Dato' Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin delivers a speech during the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's annual defense and security forum, in Singapore, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gestures as he speaks during the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's annual defense and security forum, in Singapore, Saturday, May 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Philippine's Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro delivers his address during the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's annual defense and security forum, in Singapore, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Japan's Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi delivers a speech during the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's annual defense and security forum, in Singapore, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Japan's Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi delivers a speech during the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's annual defense and security forum, in Singapore, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — When Senegalese farmer Abou Sow first watched U.S. missiles strike Iran on social media, he had a sinking feeling it would soon affect agriculture in the West African nation. Since the war began on Feb. 28, fertilizer prices have risen by 40%.

Sow was better prepared than most. Eight years ago, he gave up chemical fertilizers for organic compost and other natural sources. He now rallies farmers in Senegal to buy manure from local herders and gives advice on how to make a rich compost, picking out wriggling worms – a healthy sign.

“We can’t afford to wait for a ceasefire,” Sow said. “It’s risky to depend on chemical fertilizers." Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz has affected the supply of natural gas, essential for making chemical fertilizer, as well as global shipping.

The Gulf region produces 30% of globally traded chemical fertilizer, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, and global prices have increased by 50%, according to the World Bank’s fertilizer price index.

“The clock is ticking very hard,” said Maximo Torero, chief economist at the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, as concerns grow about food security.

Experts say a shift away from chemical fertilizer could have wider benefits, as its production and usage create significant greenhouse gas emissions, the main driver of climate change.

Natural fertilizers, by contrast, can sequester carbon in the soil and create fewer problems like runoff that can pollute waterways.

“It’s good for the planet because you’re weaning food production off fossil fuels,” said Susan Chomba, member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, a think tank.

Senegal annually imports 125,000 tons of fertilizer. The minister of agriculture, Mabouba Diagne, has said the state sourced enough chemical fertilizer for the current season, but farmers said it is increasingly difficult to find.

Farmer Aliou Fall blamed U.S. President Donald Trump for the soaring fertilizer costs. “He brings war to the world and he doesn’t even think about it. Now farmers are suffering,” Fall said.

Annually, Sow applies six tons of compost instead. He said he is fortunate to be near a town where manure is plentiful because residents rear sheep for religious holidays.

In rural areas and remote fields, however, it is challenging to source and transport large quantities of manure, and Sow fears that some people will abandon their fields in this difficult time.

One alternative is the industry in biofertilizers, products containing bacteria and other microorganisms to help plants absorb nitrogen, a crucial nutrient for growth, from the air and soil. A growing number of companies in Africa make industrial quantities of compost with municipal waste, decomposing food waste into fertilizer.

Senegal's government announced in April it would subsidize and distribute 30,000 tons of organic fertilizer products to help farmers. Sow said that's not enough.

Governments around the world spend $700 billion annually on agricultural subsidies according to the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development, with a large share spent on providing chemical fertilizer. Chomba said that makes alternatives more expensive and less competitive.

“You’re incentivizing the wrong sort of products,” she said.

Brazil is a leading exporter of soybeans, coffee, sugarcane, beef and poultry. But the nation imports over 80% of its fertilizer, said Joana Colussi, assistant professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University.

The price of fertilizer has increased by 50% since the Iran war began, according to Luis Barbieri, founder of the Folio Institute, a Brazilian organization that connects farmers, scientists and researchers.

“Whenever we have a war, farmers’ use of biofertilizers is turbocharged,” Barbieri said.

Despite the widespread adoption of chemical fertilizers in Brazil in the 1970s, they are less effective in the tropical climate because high rainfall and high temperatures cause runoff.

The biofertilizer sector grew 15% in Brazil from 2023 to 2024, according to the state-run Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa. And patent laws mean that farmers can make their own biofertilizers at much lower cost.

In Mexico, however, very little progress has been made due to government subsidies promoting chemical fertilizer use and a lack of funding for alternatives, said Gerardo Noriega, a research professor at the Autonomous University of Chapingo and one of the country’s leading advocates for organic fertilizers.

But he suggested the current crisis “may force (farmers) to adopt organic fertilizers more quickly than they had imagined.”

In India's southern Indian state of Telangana, Manohara Chari has been making jivamrita, a potent mix of cow dung, urine, flour, soil and sugar to replace the chemical fertilizer he used to apply.

“We do not depend on companies,” said Chari, one of 1.7 million farmers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states who have shifted to natural farming, which embraces natural fertilizers, integrates livestock waste and plants a diversity of crops to improve soil health.

Farmers and experts say the Iran war and chemical fertilizer shortage make the approach more attractive. On May 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a “national mission” to adopt natural farming and cut fertilizer use by 50%.

India imports 60% of its fertilizer from the Gulf. The government has rushed to source supplies and subsidized it to keep prices low, at significant expense to the state.

“There’s certainly been more interest this year in natural farming, especially after the Middle East conflict began,” said G.V. Ramanjaneyulu, agricultural scientist at the Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Some farmers have dedicated part of their land to assess the approach.

The switch requires additional labor, and farmers face a transition period. Chari said the government could help instead of subsidizing chemical fertilizers: “If even a fraction of that support is given to natural farmers, more people will shift towards it."

Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India, and Sanchez from Mexico. Mauricio Savarese in São Paulo, Brazil contributed.

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Gora Samba, one of many farmers making their own compost from animal manure, seen at an animal farm in Meouane, Senegal, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)

A worker shows the chemical fertilizer that is used across the country in Thies, Senegal, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)

Kavali Narsimhulu, 46, walks through his paddy fields in Padmaram village, Ranga Reddy district, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Hyderabad, India, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Abou Sow, left, and Farah Jammeh are both exploring local, organic alternatives to chemical fertilizers in Rufisque, Senegal, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)

Farah Jammeh throws organic compost on the fields at the cooperative in Rufisque, Senegal, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)