Defense spending at 5% of GDP: NATO defense ministers were skeptical of Trump’s proposal

The defense ministers of the NATO countries were skeptical of the words of the US President-elect Donald Trump about the need for the members of the Alliance to increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP. During a meeting in the Rammstein format on January 9, they emphasized that it is not the specific number that is more important, but the ability to perform defensive tasks.

“All numbers and percentages do not help us at all now. 2% of strong GDP can be significant, and three and a half percent of weak GDP is very small,” said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

According to him, 5% in Germany would mean about 40% of the federal budget. “I don’t know which country can afford it. Therefore, it is not a matter of percentages. The question is that the defined goals of NATO’s capabilities are fulfilled,” Pistorius emphasized.

The Minister of Defense of Estonia, Hanno Pevkur, said in a comment to Radio Liberty that the US must first demonstrate its readiness for such expenses. “I would like to hear what the United States itself would say about this. When we take today’s US commitments, they invest about 2.7-3% in defense. This means that they will have to increase by 2%, which will raise their defense spending from about 850 billion to 1.5 trillion dollars,” Pevkur calculated.

Latvia, which is already one of the few NATO countries that spends more than 3% of GDP on defense, plans to further increase this expenditure. “This year we will have funding of 3.45% of our GDP. Next year it will be 3.7%. And recently, the political leadership announced that we are ready to move to 4%,” Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds said in a comment to Radio Liberty.

According to him, this level of spending demonstrates an understanding of the threats facing the world. “During the Cold War, the average was about 4%. Therefore, of course, the 2% we talked about earlier is not enough,” Spruds said.

All 32 NATO member states must agree to approve a new defense spending figure. As of July 2024, 23 countries of the Alliance have achieved the goal of 2% of GDP on defense. Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Turkey reached this indicator for the first time.

Trump floated the 5 percent spending proposal during a Jan. 7 press conference, repeating his long-standing claims that European allies are underpaying for U.S. defense.

“They can all afford it, but they should be at 5 percent, not 2 percent,” said Trump, who will be inaugurated on January 20.

The United States spends 3.38% of GDP on defense. Given the size of the US economy, this is more than 60 percent of NATO’s total.