NATO allies have begun working on a deal to significantly increase defense spending that could meet US President Donald Trump's demand to spend 5% of economic output on defense.
It was reported by Bloomberg.
According to diplomats familiar with the matter, the participants in the negotiations in the military alliance are making progress towards achieving 5% of GDP on defense and related spending by 2032 ahead of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in The Hague in June.
It is indicated that NATO foreign ministers will discuss the initiative at a meeting in the Turkish resort city of Antalya on Wednesday and Thursday.
A defense spending deal at the level Trump is demanding – none of NATO’s 32 members, including the United States, have reached that threshold – would mark the largest spending increase by Western allies since the end of the Cold War.
Senior diplomats say Secretary General Mark Rutte is pushing alliance members to agree to a target of 3.5% of GDP over the next seven years, plus an additional 1.5% for a broader range of defense-related spending.
Rutte told reporters in the United States last month that the goal of the Hague summit – Trump’s first since returning to the White House – would be to redistribute spending within the alliance, given the large US share compared to its European NATO allies and Canada.
The sources said ministers in Antalya would discuss what spending would count towards the 1.5% component, including in areas such as military mobility, dual-use goods and cybersecurity, adding that the talks were at an early stage. It was unclear whether the segment would include existing spending or require new commitments.
Rutte’s proposal would include a regular and strict review mechanism, unlike the softer targets currently set by allies.
Increasing spending by an order of magnitude in the timeframe being discussed would be a huge challenge, according to one senior European diplomat, although many now see the effort as necessary to send a strong signal to the kremlin.
The new baseline of 3.5% is based on ambitious new defense plans being developed by NATO. The alliance has provided member governments with detailed, highly classified lists of weapons and other capabilities that defense chiefs will discuss in Brussels on Wednesday.
The lists, known as capability goals, have been widely endorsed by alliance members and are likely to be signed off on at a defense ministers’ meeting in Brussels in early June, people familiar with the discussions said. That will leave formal approval for a summit in The Hague on June 24-25.
The summit is expected to be shorter than previous meetings, focusing on spending and industrial growth, and will culminate in a brief declaration, European diplomats said. One diplomat said the focus will be on the alliance, not Ukraine’s future within it.
Another initiative under discussion by Rutte, according to sources, involves a review of the alliance’s effectiveness and internal governance, people familiar with the discussions said. According to one of the interlocutors, these changes may please the US President.
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