Hegseth praises ‘near consensus' to raise NATO defense spending target to 5% of GDP
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said after a meeting with alliance counterparts in Brussels that there was a 'near consensus' over raising NATO's defense spending target to 5% of GDP.
'Countries in there are well exceeding 2% and we think very close, almost near consensus, on a 5% commitment for Nato,' Hegseth said.
The alliance is expected to sign a new pledge at a NATO summit this month increasing defense spending targets to 3.5% of GDP and add a 1.5% target for security-related infrastructure such as cyber capabilities and transportation.
Many countries already spend roughly 1.5% of GDP on the types of infrastructure expected to be included in the pledge, but the figure would allow US President Donald Trump to say the alliance is setting the 5% spending target he has demanded, a Western official told Semafor.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Democratic congressman steps up his work to pull Musk toward his party
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., talked with one of Elon Musk's 'senior confidants' on Thursday about whether the ex-DOGE leader, now feuding with Donald Trump, might want to help the Democratic Party in the midterms. 'Having Elon speak out against the irrational tariff policy, against the deficit exploding Trump bill, and the anti-science and anti-immigrant agenda can help check Trump's unconstitutional administration,' Khanna told Semafor on Friday. 'I look forward to Elon turning his fire against MAGA Republicans instead of Democrats in 2026.' Khanna, who has known Musk for more than a decade, has long argued that Democrats unwisely pushed him away from their party. Now the world's wealthiest man, Musk benefited from the Obama administration's clean energy investments, defending them against Republican attacks in the 2012 election. He supported Democratic nominees for president until 2024, when he endorsed Trump for president — and spent more to help elect him than he had for any Democrat. Since Musk began attacking the Trump-backed GOP tax bill as an 'abomination' this week, Democrats in Congress have amplified his criticism and even adopted some of his language. But few besides Khanna have gone as far as talking about bringing Musk back into the Democratic tent; most Democrats are furious at Musk's DOGE work to dismantle parts of the federal government and are confident that he is a political liability for Trump. 'How great is it that that dipshit Elon Musk is out?' Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota said at last Friday's Democratic fish fry in South Carolina, after Musk left the administration. 'The decisions he was making were literally killing people, so he could dance around and act like he was doing something.' Musk was a 'historic villain' whose unpopularity had helped Wisconsin Democrats win the state's April 1 supreme court race by 10 points, said state Democratic Party chairman Ben Wikler. At their 'Fighting Oligarchy' rallies, the largest political events since Trump was sworn in, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., torched Musk as the embodiment of what Democrats and fair-minded Americans should be against. Some Democrats believe that Musk could have stayed in their coalition, had they paid him a little more respect — specifically, had Joe Biden invited Musk to the White House electric vehicle summit early in his presidency. Khanna is in that camp. Others counter that the party's overall shift leftward after 2016 alienated Musk, who was never coming back. He clashed with Elizabeth Warren ('Senator Karen') over the idea of a wealth tax, and with progressives over the 'woke mind virus' that he blamed for the gender transition of his third child. That's the camp where most Democrats are, although some — like Walz — see this as a political opportunity. Still, the idea of an irate multibillionaire making problems for Republicans is enticing to plenty of Democrats, who have not been above meddling in GOP primaries to help weaker candidates win nominations. What if Musk made Republicans burn money to defend their incumbents, as he slammed them with TV ads? That's all theoretical, as Musk said last month that he would do 'a lot less' political spending now that he'd achieved his goal of electing Trump. If Musk is sincere about the political views he posts about on X, he is completely at odds with the Democratic Party, and the best they could hope for is him making trouble for Republicans out of spite. In Politico, Holly Otterbein and Lisa Kashinsky about the Democrats who hoped that Musk would have a 'villain-to-hero' arc, and help them beat Trump. But Khanna was the only voice in the party who fully believed it could happen.
Wall Street Journal
42 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Pentagon Probe Focuses on Whether Hegseth Texts Shared Classified Information
WASHINGTON—A Pentagon inspector general investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's use of the Signal messaging service is focusing on whether details of a military operation were classified and if anyone ordered texts to be deleted, people familiar with the probe said. Pentagon officials have said that messages Hegseth sent in March about a U.S. attack in Yemen didn't contain classified information. He shared specific times that F-18 jet fighters, MQ-9 Reaper drones and Tomahawk cruise missiles would be used in the attack as well as other normally-closely held details of the airstrikes, according to a transcript of the chat released by the Atlantic.
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
A different kind of D-Day, laden with anxiety among old allies
Advertisement 'The enemy underestimated the strength of the Allied war cause,' he said from a podium before a modest international crowd and about two dozen American World War II veterans, most around 100 years old, watching from wheelchairs nearby. 'Without the sacrifices of American, French, British and other Allied powers, we would not have a free world ," he said. To many, the speech came as a relief. But still, there was an elephant on the perfectly kept cemetery lawn. D-Day is typically a time to commemorate sacrifice and unity among Allied countries fighting for freedom and liberty against the authoritarianism and tyranny of Nazi Germany. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Ukraine's resistance has become a central part of the ceremonies as a strong echo from the past. Last year, President Biden vowed that America would not 'walk away' from the fight, defending a Ukraine that had been 'invaded by a tyrant bent on domination.' Advertisement 'Were we to do that, it means we'd be forgetting what happened here on these hallowed beaches,' he said. 'Make no mistake: We will not bow down. We will not forget.' However, the Trump administration has a very different view of its allies and the Russian invasion. President Trump has said the European Union was created to 'screw the United States' and is threatening it with 50 percent tariffs. He has blamed Ukraine for a war that Russia started. On Thursday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, during a visit to the Oval Office, reminded Trump of the anniversary of D-Day and pressed him to use American power to force Russia's retreat. Trump responded by comparing the war to two fighting children in a hockey game, when the referee lets them 'go for a little while before you pull them apart.' Hegseth has similarly shown little interest in supporting Ukraine against its Russian invader. On his last trip to Europe, he announced that a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders was 'an unrealistic objective' and ruled out NATO membership for Kyiv. Almost immediately after being sworn into the job, Hegseth dumped America's leadership of the Contact Group — a collection of more than 50 nations to coordinate shipments of military and humanitarian aid to Kyiv. He didn't show up to the group's latest meeting this week. Then, there were his comments on a Signal chat group, created before the American military attack on Houthi militia in Yemen and inadvertently shared with a journalist from The Atlantic. It all cast a shadow on the annual D-Day ceremony — making an event meant to celebrate friendship and shared values feel, as Denis Peschanski, a French historian, put it, 'less comfortable.' Advertisement 'There was no contradiction between the democratic values upheld by the Biden administration and the historical sacrifice of these Americans, as well as these British, these Canadians, well, all those who landed, and the French who were fighting in the Resistance also for the success of this landing,' said Peschanski, who was in charge of the 80th anniversary's scientific advisory board. It was 'obvious' that this year's commemoration would feel awkward without those shared values, he said. The celebration of what Hegseth called the 'greatest amphibious assault in the history of mankind' was more muted than last year. But that had nothing to do with American foreign policy — 81 isn't considered as auspicious as 80, and off-round number years rarely draw huge crowds or heads of state. Still, American and Canadian flags fluttered from hedges, World War II enthusiasts screeched along the narrow roads in vintage jeeps, and ceremonies were planned throughout the 50-mile ribbon of beaches and cliffs. No mention of American aggression was made by French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu, either. Instead, he thanked the veterans, saying they embodied the 'unique friendship between our two countries.' To some, Hegseth's criticism of Europe was not entirely off-point, if only because its spine has yet to stiffen sufficiently. 'The problem is, he is right. The EU is pathetic,' said Gérard Araud, former French ambassador to Washington, referring to Hegseth's text. 'In face of US hostility from JD Vance and Trump himself and then Hegseth, there is no appetite for retaliation or responding. They are totally terrified at the prospect of the US dumping Ukraine.' Advertisement Though European countries are committed to continuing to materially and financially help Ukraine maintain its opposition, most believe American support — particularly in intelligence — is essential. So, Araud said of Hegseth, 'everything will be done by the French to seduce him, to try and convince him we are serious on defense and we are working with the Americans and basically, please stay.'
