Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth expressed confidence that NATO allies will agree to increase the minimum defense spending requirement, which the Trump administration has advocated.

Since his first administration, President Donald Trump has stressed the need for U.S. allies, in the alliance and beyond, to take on more of the burden to offset what he has said are decades of them taking advantage of the United States.

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NATO allies are currently required to spend at least 2% of their country’s GDP on defense, but the U.S. is pushing for that to more than double to 5%. No country is currently at that 5% marker.

“I’m very encouraged by what we heard in there,” Hegseth said after a morning meeting of NATO defense ministers on Thursday in Brussels. “Countries in there are well exceeding 2% and we think very close, almost near consensus, on a 5% commitment to NATO.”

“The reason I’m here is to make sure every country in NATO understands (it) has to contribute at that level of 5% as a recognition of the nature of the threat,” he added. “It’s that hard power that actually deters. And it can’t just be U.S. capabilities.” 

The U.S. mission to NATO said online that every ally will hit or exceed the 2% mark “with a shared commitment to reach 5% over the next decade.”

The alliance is now finalizing the timeline for the spending increase, and Hegseth indicated it could be announced during the NATO summit in the Dutch city of The Hague later this month.

Trump has indicated the U.S. may not defend NATO allies that don’t meet the spending requirements.

Comparatively, nine out of 32 NATO countries did not meet the 2% marker in 2024. Last year was the first time that even half the alliance met the requirement.

Russia’s war in Ukraine, the most deadly conflict in Europe since the end of World War II, prompted many countries to increase their defense spending prior to Trump’s return to the White House.

Several Eastern European countries that share a border with Russia and Belarus spent more than 3% of their GDP on defense last year and have already announced their intent to increase that total prior to the current administration’s push.

Poland was the only country to surpass 4% defense spending last year, at 4.12%, and it intends to increase to 4.7% this year.

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For its part, the Trump administration is pushing for the U.S.’s first trillion-dollar defense budget, but it doesn’t look like it will reach its own 5% defense spending goal.

Last year, the U.S. spent 3.38% of its GDP on defense, or roughly $850 billion. Since about 5% of the U.S.’s GDP amounts to more than $1.3 trillion, Trump’s 2025 defense budget will get closer to the goal but still fall about $300 billion below that 5% mark.