NATO head expects members to agree to spend 5% GDP on defense
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte addresses a press conference following an informal meeting foreign ministers of member nations on May 15, 2025. On Monday, he said he expects member nations to agree to spend 5% GDP on defense spending next month in The Hague. Photo by NATO/UPI | License Photo
May 27 (UPI) -- NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that he expects alliance members to agree during next month's summit to a defense spending target of 5% of gross domestic product.
Rutte made the revelation during the sixth and final day of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Dayton, Ohio.
"I assume that in The Hague we will agree on a hard defense spend target of 5%," he said.
"Let's say that this 5%, but I will not say what is the individual breakup, but it will be considerably north of 3% when it comes to the hard spend and it will be also a target on defense-related spending."
"We need this, because otherwise we can never, ever, ever reach the capability targets," he added.
All NATO members have agreed to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense by 2025, with no country yet reaching the 5% threshold.
NATO spending by member nations has long been an issue of contention for U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called for European nations to pay more, accusing them of relying on Washington for their defense.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has been calling for NATO members to increase defense spending to 5%.
Of the 32 NATO nations, Poland spent an alliance-high 4.12% of GDP on defense last year, according to statistics from the security alliance, with Estonia second at 3.43% and the United States third at 3.38%.
Eight countries spent below the 2% GDP on defense last year, with Spain coming in last at 1.28% GDP.
The NATO Summit is to be held in The Hague from June 24-25, where world leaders and defense chiefs of alliance members will congregate to discuss pressing security issues and decide on the alliance's strategic direction.
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