Topline
NATO member nations voted to increase defense spending to 5% of their annual GDP by 2035, following long-term pressure from President Donald Trump, as the alliance reaffirmed its defensive agreement.
NATO members agreed to boost their defense spending to 5% of their annual GDP.
Naming Russia a “long-term threat” to Europe, NATO made the commitment to boost defense spending during a summit in The Netherlands Wednesday.
The wording of Wednesday’s declaration implies not all NATO members agreed to the 5% spending increase, with Spain immediately putting out a statement indicating that “not all allies” were bound to the target, the New York Times reported.
“We’re with them all the way,” U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the summit, shortly before a scheduled press conference.
“I’ve been asking them to go up to 5% for a number of years, and they’re going up to 5%,” Trump told reporters. “From 2%, and a lot of people didn’t even pay the 2%. So I think that’s going to be very big news.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.