French President Emmanuel Macron urged European countries to increase their defense spending in light of President Donald Trump’s decision to move its focus away from the continent and the U.S. president’s recent spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Macron urged European leaders to increase their defense spending to at least 3% of their gross domestic product, a significant increase from the current 2% minimum benchmark for every member of the NATO alliance. Trump has called for all members of the alliance to reach at least 5% of defense spending.
“For the past three years, the Russians have been spending 10% of their GDP on defense,” Macron said in an interview with French daily Le Figaro. “We need to prepare [for] what comes next, with an objective of 3% to 3.5% of GDP.”
France currently spends 2.1% of GDP on its military annually, just north of the 2% minimum required.
Macron’s comments make him the latest European official to discuss the need to increase defense spending due to the Trump administration’s frustrations over European allies not taking more initiative to strengthen their own security.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Parliament last week that the United Kingdom would increase its defense spending from 2.3% to 2.5% by 2027, with another goal of hitting 3% by the end of the next government’s term, which would be 2034 at the latest.
Twenty-three of the 32 NATO members hit the 2% minimum in 2014. Only five countries are expected to exceed 3% this year: Poland (4.12%), Estonia (3.43%), the United States (3.38%), Latvia (3.15%), and Greece (3.08%).
Starmer and Macron traveled to Washington last week ahead of Trump’s meeting with Zelensky. Both sought to reiterate to the president the need to focus on security guarantees for Ukraine as the Trump administration pursues an end to Russia’s war.
Zelensky’s meeting with Trump last Friday devolved into the two of them and Vice President JD Vance angrily speaking over one another about the need for security guarantees. The administration then kicked Zelensky and his staffers out of the White House before the two sides could sign the minerals agreement that prompted the visit.
While Zelensky has still signaled a willingness to sign the deal, his public spat with Trump and Vance showcased the different priorities of the two countries: The U.S. wants an end to the war, and Ukraine wants security against future Russian aggression. Many NATO countries are aligned with Ukraine.
Over the weekend, Zelensky traveled to the U.K., where he met with Starmer and Macron, and the three of them agreed to negotiate a ceasefire plan for war and present it to the U.S. Starmer emphasized to Zelensky that Ukraine has the “full backing” of the U.K. “for as long as it may take” to achieve a “lasting peace for Ukraine, based on sovereignty and security for Ukraine.”
Outside of the Russia-Ukraine war, the Trump administration has also signaled it would focus its attention on the Pacific region, mainly China, and move away from Europe.
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“We’re also here today to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told NATO allies last month. “The United States faces consequential threats to our homeland. We must — and we are — focusing on the security of our own borders.”
The U.S. “will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency,” Hegseth added. “Rather, our relationship will prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security.”