NATO nations are reportedly in talks to boost defense spending amid Trump’s return to power
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte holds the closing press conference at the NATO headquarters on the second day of the NATO Foreign Affairs Ministers’ meeting
NATO members may increase their defense spending to 3% of GDP, in part due to pressure by President-elect Donald Trump.
Three people involved in the preliminary talks told the Financial Times that NATO intends to make a short-term pledge to increase defense spending to 2.5% of GDP, moving to 3% by 2030.
NATO countries are committed to spending at least 2% of GDP on defense but several, including Italy and Spain, have fallen short.
This year, Poland has led the alliance on defense, spending 4.12% of GDP followed by Estonia at 3.43%, and the US at 3.38%, according to Reuters.
The talks are in the preliminary stages, according to people speaking to the FT, and will be formally agreed upon at the NATO summit in June.
The discussions to increase spending come in the wake of Trump’s impending return to the White House.
Trump has long been skeptical of the alliance, and threatened to withdraw from NATO during his first term if members did not start spending more on defense.
Last month, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that Europe understands it must do more to ensure shared security. “That starts with spending more and also fielding more capabilities,” he said.
When asked about NATO’s defense spending, Rutte told the FT earlier this month that he had a number in mind but did not clarify what it would be. “But clearly, when you look at the capability targets, [when] you look at the gaps still there … It is clear that, with 2%, you cannot get there,” he said.
Rutte was appointed NATO head earlier this year and has gained a reputation as a “Trump whisperer” after successfully pacifying the President-elect’s threat to leave the alliance in 2018.
NATO defense spending has accelerated in recent years, but experts told B-1 earlier this year that that has little to do with Trump.
“Pretty much all of the increases, I would say, since 2014 are a response to Russia,” said Edward Hunter Christie, a senior research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and a former NATO official.
William Alberque, a former NATO arms control expert and now director of strategy, technology, and arms control at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told B-17 early this year that some officials may be quietly pleased with the external pressure from Trump, allowing them to scapegoat him for their already-planned spending decisions.
Representatives for NATO did not immediately reply to a request by B-17 for comment.
