‘If they can do it': White House says Australia should follow NATO, lift defence spending

The Age

3 days ago

Washington: The Trump administration is poised to ratchet up pressure on Australia and other Indo-Pacific allies to increase defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP after being emboldened by an agreement from its NATO partners.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told this masthead: 'If our allies in Europe and our NATO allies can do it, I think our allies and our friends in the Indo-Pacific region can do it as well.' She said she would leave discussions of specific countries to the president.
The administration has already asked Australia to lift defence spending to 3.5 per cent from a projected 2.33 per cent by 2033, something the government says it is assessing. But the NATO decision makes it more difficult for Australia and other partners, such as Japan, to refuse.
'The developments at NATO suggest that the president and his team will be very keen that allies in the Indo-Pacific region follow a similar pattern in a commitment to increase defence expenditure,' said Arthur Sinodinos, a former Australian ambassador to the US, who is now at The Asia Group and co-chair of the AUKUS Forum, a group for AUKUS-related businesses.
'Clearly, that puts the onus on Australia and other partners in the Indo-Pacific to explain their current levels of defence spending and how they are contributing to the alliance network in the region,' Sinodinos said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended Australia's defence expenditure on Friday, saying his government had already lifted investment in defence. 'We've increased it by $57 billion over the medium term and by more than $10 billion in the short term, as well,' he said.
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Charles Edel, Australia chair at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies and a former US State Department adviser, said the administration's call to increase defence spending was in line with Australia's own prerogative to prepare for regional security challenges.
'Preserving a favourable balance of power in the face of increasing Chinese provocations demands more robust efforts by Australia as well as the United States,' he said.