US President Donald Trump will strive to get NATO member states to increase their defense spending to the level of 5% of their GDP, Trump announced this in the evening of January 20 during a conversation with journalists in the Oval Office of the White House.
"NATO should pay more money. NATO should pay 5 percent," Trump stressed. The head of the US administration complained that the US spent $200 billion more on providing military aid to Ukraine. , than other countries of the North Atlantic Alliance. "They have to equalize the situation," said Trump.
Last week, Trump announced the need for NATO countries to increase their defense spending to 5%. According to Euronews, the defense ministers of Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy and Poland, reacting to Trump's announcement, announced on January 14 that they intend to continue investing more in the defense sector, but it will be difficult to reach the target stated by Donald Trump.
NATO countries set the goal of increasing military spending to 2% of GDP by 2014. at the summit held in Wales in September, citing the "Russian threat". It happened after Crimea came under the control of Russia. in 2023 In July, at the Vilnius summit, a decision was made that 2% of GDP should not be a target, but a minimum level of defense spending for NATO states.
