NATO Secretary-General Suggests Raising 'Preparation for Trump' Defense Spending Target

NATO has signaled that it will raise its defense spending targets to prepare for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's return to power.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutter told a news conference after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on the 4th local time that the current target of 2% of GDP is not enough to maintain current levels of deterrence in the long run.

In particular, he said he has learned that the war in Ukraine has forced him to do more in recent years, and that he knows many allies, not just Trump, strongly insist that spending at the 2% level is not enough.

A new defense target agreement is expected to be pushed forward at the annual summit in the Hague, Netherlands, in June next year.

At a 2014 summit, NATO agreed to spend 2% of each member state's defense spending as a percentage of GDP, setting this standard at "at least 2%" the year after the war in Ukraine broke out in late February 2022.

However, 23 out of 32 countries have achieved or exceeded 2% as of this year, and implementation has been slow 10 years since the first agreement.