NATO agrees to new 5% defence spending target ahead of summit
The 32-member transatlantic alliance has agreed to raise its defence spending commitment, though questions remain about the timeline allies will have to meet the new pledge.
NATO has agreed to a significant increase in defence spending ahead of a summit in the Netherlands this week, with members backing a commitment to spend 5% of their country's gross domestic product on defence, up from the alliance's previous 2% mandate.
Increasing defence spending has long been a goal of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called on U.S. allies to become less reliant on American military might.
Prior to the parties coming to an agreement, Spain, the NATO member with the lowest share of defence spending, said it would not meet new commitments.
“We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defence investment, but we are not going to do so,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on June 19, as reported by Reuters. Sanchez's comment was countered by Trump, who asserted the nation was “notorious” for failing to meet spending commitments and would have “to pay what everybody else has to pay.”
Spain spent just 1.24% of its GDP on defence in 2024.
Nevertheless, a tweak in the language of the alliance's agreement allowed NATO's 32 members to reach an agreement ahead of the June 24-25 summit. The change saw “we commit” to “allies commit,” giving Spain room to suggest the pledge does not apply to all members, Reuters reported.
A letter from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte to Spanish PM Sanchez seen by the outlet saw the NATO chief tell the European nation it would have “flexibility to determine its own sovereign path.”
The new 5% spending is broken down in two parts — 3.5% to be spent on direct military expenditures and 1.5% on more vaguely defined defence efforts, Politico reports.
President Trump views the agreement as “a major win,” an administration official told Politico. “There is no way they would be going to 5% without Trump.”
The agreement isn't without issues, however, as the timeline for the increased spending remains unclear. “For a lot of countries, this is the whole issue,” said a European defence source cited by Politico.
The U.S. and some countries in eastern Europe, including Poland, Estonia Latvia, are already spending over 3% of GDP on defence and are seeking a 2030 deadline. Other members of the transatlantic alliance prefer delaying that timeline until 2032 or 2035.
President Trump has also suggested that given the U.S. has carried much of the defence burden for the alliance, it was not obligated to meet new commitments.
Secretary-General Rutte has suggested 2032 as a target, though a European official Politico spoke to suggested the final wording of the agreement may give countries until 2035.
Eight of NATO's 32 members — Croatia, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Slovenia, Luxembourg and Spain — currently fall short of the alliance's existing 2% commitment.
A review of the new 5% agreement, which is set to be announced at the upcoming summit, will occur in 2029.
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COMMENTS
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Bruce Atchison commented 2025-06-23 21:18:21 -0400Canada should drop out of NATO. We can’t even defend our own borders. It’s time we built up our military first.
