The US is dictating western foreign policy to an incredible extent and controls the means of power projection, NATO has become an extension of DC's interests. More French and British ships and aircraft would just end up assisting the US abroad without doing much for the old continent's security right now. Europe is not militarily threatened despite overblown scares like what we saw in eastern Ukraine, and it's not in the same game as the US when it comes to projecting force outside it's periphery. There's no need to spend anywhere as much as the US - especially if it comes with no real gain in terms of clout and influence.

You guys brought yourselves a huge military and clearly put it to good use translating it into influence, but there's simply no political or popular desire to compete with that. The day the old continent decides to militarize, it'll have to be because because things have become so tense with the US that it's required to act as a counterweight - certainly not because of Russians or Syrians. Until that day, NATO is your plaything and any money we put in it is basically military tribute.

You cant have your cake and eat it too. Either scale back your international posture and your empire of bases significantly - in which case rest assured everyone will pick up the pieces whether they want to or not - or be a hegemon but you can't ask others to take it seriously if you want them to pay for Pax Americana on top. US media and Trump tries to paint US spending as a generous friendly gesture towards it's allies, but nothing is further from the truth. It's spending to further US interests - the disagreement is over whether ours in Europe and Canada align with yours so well that we ought to pay up too, and my answer would be no.