(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President-elect Donald Trump’s team has informed members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that they must increase their military spending to at least 5% of their GDP.
This proposed increase, first reported by The Telegraph and the Financial Times, would more than double current spending levels, signaling to member states that the era of “freeloading” is over.
According to reports, a European official indicated that Trump might be willing to accept a 3.5% increase instead.
The new spending levels would need to be achieved by June when NATO has scheduled a meeting in The Hague.
This plan follows a meeting between NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 22, weeks after his landslide presidential victory in the 2024 presidential election.
Last night, new NATO Sec Gen Mark Rutte met with President-elect Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
NATO Spokesperson on the meeting: “They discussed the range of global security issues facing the Alliance.”
Photo by NATO/Erik Luntang: pic.twitter.com/i2YK1YkBUX— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) November 23, 2024
“When President-elect Trump takes office again on January 20, he will be welcomed by a stronger, larger, and more united Alliance,” Rutte stated in a press statement before their meeting.
“Two-thirds of Allies now spend at least 2% of their GDP on defence, and defence spending and production are on an upward trajectory across the Alliance,” Rutte added. “We must continue these efforts in order to preserve peace and prosperity across North America and Europe.”
Reports noted that only 23 of the 32 NATO members currently meet the spending target of 2% of their total GDP, leading many to believe these countries rely heavily on the U.S. for security.
Trump has previously suggested that if elected, he would order an increase in U.S. military spending as well.
In 2018, while serving as president, Trump criticized NATO allies for not meeting the 2014-agreed goal of spending 2% of their GDP on defense.
“Prior to last year, where I attended my first meeting, it was going down — the amount of money being spent by countries was going down and down very substantially,” Trump said during a NATO meeting in Belgium. “And now, it’s going up very substantially. And commitments were made. Only 5 of 29 countries were making their commitment. And that’s now changed. The commitment was at 2 percent. Ultimately, that’ll be going up quite a bit higher than that.”
