During the election campaign, Trump proposed increasing NATO defense spending to 3%, explaining that this would mean an increase in the defense budget of around 30% for most Alliance members.
Newly elected US President Donald Trump called on NATO countries to increase defense spending to 5% of their GDP. Reuters wrote this on Friday, January 10.
“Such an amount is economically and politically impossible for most Alliance members. A spending level of 5% is a significant increase compared to the current target of 2%, and therefore not all NATO countries are this step can be taken,” the agency wrote.
The agency wrote that the United States will present new demands to NATO at the NATO summit in The Hague in June 2025.
“Some expect the 32 NATO members to agree on spending 3% of GDP, although many NATO members will find it difficult to maintain, especially those that barely reached 2% ten years after that level was set, ” added the British news agency.
Among the countries missing the current target is Italy, which spends around 1.5% of GDP on defence. Poland spent the largest share of its GDP on defense in 2024 – 4.12%. It was followed by Estonia with 3.43% and the USA with 3.38%.
By 2024, NATO estimates its members’ total defense spending at $1.474 trillion – about $968 billion from the United States and $507 billion from European countries and Canada.
Reuters said some alliance officials and analysts see Trump’s 5% spending proposal as a preemptively high starting bid to start negotiations, and expect he may agree to a figure closer to 3 %.
This year, 23 of NATO’s 31 countries will spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.