NATO to propose upping members' defence spending to 5% in line with Trump demand

Most US allies at NATO endorse President Donald Trump’s demand that they invest 5 percent of GDP on their defence needs and are ready to ramp up security spending even more, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Thursday.

“There’s broad support,” Rutte told reporters after chairing a meeting of NATO defence ministers at the alliance’s Brussels headquarters. “We are really close,” he said, and added that he has “total confidence that we will get there” by the next NATO summit in three weeks.

European allies and Canada have already been investing heavily in their armed forces, as well as on weapons and ammunition, since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

At the same time, some have balked at US demands to invest 5 percent of GDP on defense  3.5 percent on core military spending and 1.5 percent on the roads, bridges, airfields and sea ports needed to deploy armies more quickly.

In 2023, as Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine entered its second year, NATO leaders agreed to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on national defense budgets. So far, 22 of the 32 member countries have done so, and others still struggle to do so.

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Pressured by Trump

Trump and his NATO counterparts appear likely to endorse the new goal at a summit in The Hague on June 24-25. Trump insists that US allies should spend at least 5 percent so America can focus on security priorities elsewhere, mostly in the Indo-Pacific and its own borders.

He has gained important leverage over the other NATO countries by casting doubt over whether the US would defend allies that spend too little.

The new goal would involve a 1.5 percent increase over the current 2 percent goal for defence budgets. It means that all 32 countries would be investing the same percentage.

The United States spends by far more than any other ally in dollar terms.

But according to NATO’s most recent figures, it was estimated to have spent 3.19 percent of GDP in 2024, down from 3.68 percent a decade ago. It’s the only ally whose spending has dropped since 2014.

Seven-year time frame

While the two new figures do add up to 5 percent, factoring in improvements to civilian infrastructure so that armies can deploy more quickly significantly changes the basis on which NATO traditionally calculates defence spending.

The seven-year time frame is also short by the alliance’s usual standards. The far more modest 2 percent target – set after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 – was meant to be reached over a decade.

The extra spending will also be needed should the Trump administration announce a force draw down in Europe, where around 84,000 US troops are based, leaving European allies to plug any security gaps.

The new targets are assigned by NATO based on a blueprint agreed upon in 2023 – the military organisation’s biggest planning shakeup since the Cold War – to defend its territory from an attack by Russia or another major adversary.

Under those plans, NATO would aim to have up to 300,000 troops ready to move to its eastern flank within 30 days, although experts suggest the allies would struggle to muster those kinds of numbers.

NATO planners believe that the targets must be met within 5-10 years, given the speed at which Russia is building its armed forces now, and which would accelerate were any peace agreement reached to end its war on Ukraine.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)