NATO agrees on five percent spending target

A few days before the NATO summit in The Hague, the 32 alliance members have apparently reached an agreement on the planned new target for the minimum level of national defense spending. As the German Press Agency and Reuters learned after the conclusion of a written decision-making process, the allies intend to agree at the summit to increase their annual defense-related spending to at least five percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

This five percent is divided into two areas: An amount of at least 3.5 percent of GDP is to be allocated to traditional military spending. In addition, expenditures for counterterrorism and military-usable infrastructure can be credited. These could include investments in railway lines, tank-capable bridges, and expanded ports.

The deadline for meeting the new defense spending target is 2035, according to diplomats in the text of the planned final declaration of the NATO summit.

Currently, NATO's target only calls for annual national spending of at least two percent of GDP. The reason for the now agreed increase is primarily the threat posed by Russia, but also US President Donald Trump's demand that Europeans assume primary responsibility for conventional deterrence and defense on their continent in the future.

Even during his first term in office, Trump repeatedly criticized what he considered to be the inadequate defense spending of his European allies. He accused the Europeans of relying too heavily on the US for protection. He even threatened to withdraw from NATO on several occasions. In recent weeks, it had been repeatedly stated that Trump might not attend the NATO summit if there was no agreement on the five percent target.

Germany endorsed the demand at a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Turkey in May. Recently, only Spain had opposed it among NATO states.

For many NATO countries, the new target represents a huge challenge, even though there is still time until it must be achieved by 2035. Last year, Germany only achieved a quota of about 2.1 percent, and according to Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), every percentage point increase for Germany would currently mean approximately 45 billion euros more in defense spending.

The new target is likely to be relatively unproblematic only for the United States itself and countries like Estonia, Latvia, and Greece. They already have traditional defense spending above three percent. Last year, Poland led the way with a GDP ratio of 4.1 percent. According to Alliance figures, the United States recently had a GDP ratio of approximately 3.4 percent.