Latest news with #defencespending
National Post
a day ago
- Business
- National Post
Defence spending being reviewed 'top to bottom' ahead of NATO summit, McGuinty says
OTTAWA — Ottawa is reviewing its spending 'from top to bottom' as Canada's closest allies call on Canada to hike defence spending to levels not seen since the height of the Cold War, Defence Minister David McGuinty said Thursday. Article content McGuinty said the federal government will have more to say 'very soon' about its defence spending commitments and will be 'making announcements in this regard.' Article content Article content Article content 'Canada is revisiting all of its expenditures presently, from top to bottom,' he told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Article content Article content 'We're working very hard now with colleagues to implement a series of changes. We'll have much more to say about that financially in very short order.' Article content McGuinty is in Belgium taking part in the NATO defence ministers' meeting, the last major NATO meeting ahead of the leaders' summit later this month — where members are expected to agree to a massive hike in their defence spending targets. Article content Both U.S. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and NATO's Secretary-General Mark Rutte confidently declared the entire alliance is poised to adopt a massive new defence spending commitment — the equivalent of five per cent of GDP — that U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded for months. Article content 'I have total confidence we will get there on the five per cent and we will hammer out some of the details we still have to work on,' Rutte said after Thursday's meeting. 'We all know we will be safe for the next couple of years, but then we need to use those years to learn Russian if we don't do this.' Article content Article content Hegseth said on the doorstep of NATO headquarters Thursday that he expects all member countries to adopt the new spending target. Article content Article content 'To be an alliance, you've got to be more than flags,' he said. 'We're here to continue the work which President Trump started, a commitment to five per cent across this alliance, which we think will happen — it has to happen — by this summit at The Hague later this month.' Article content Leaders of allied nations are set to gather June 24 and 25 in the Netherlands for the annual NATO summit, but no member country is anywhere close the five per cent benchmark — not even the United States. Article content Ottawa has long struggled to meet the current two per cent benchmark and spent just 1.33 per cent of its GDP on defence in 2023, according to a recent NATO report. The NATO secretary-general's annual report, released in April, said that Canada's defence spending would hit 1.45 per cent for 2024.
News.com.au
a day ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
China's nuclear build-up driving ‘security anxiety', Richard Marles says
China's rapidly growing nuclear arsenal is driving 'security anxiety' in Australia, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says. As of mid-2024, China's operational nuclear warheads exceeded 600, according to the US Department of Defence. That was nearly triple what the country was estimated to have in 2020. Speaking to reporters in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, Mr Marles said on Thursday evening (local time) Beijing's nuclear activity 'does shape how we think about the strategic landscape that we face'. 'I mean, we've made no secret of the fact that we have a security anxiety in relation to China that's principally driven by the very significant conventional military build-up that China is engaging in, and, for that matter, a nuclear build-up that China is engaging in,' said Mr Marles, who also holds the defence portfolio. 'We've made that clear to China itself.' He refused to say whether Australia would lift its defence budget in line with Washington's demand to hike military spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP. Mr Marles said Australia would 'determine its own defence spending based on our own national interest' and 'America understands that'. 'In fact, we've increased our defence spending considerably already,' Mr Marles said. 'We have, over the last couple of years, engaged in the biggest increase in peacetime spending for defence in our history, and that has significantly begun the process of enhancing the capability of the Australian Defence Force.' He added that spending on 'procurement in the financial year 23-24 it was the largest amount that defence has ever spent, and we will spend more again in this financial year, 24-25'. 'So that spending is happening across the board. We will continue to look at the resources that we need, the capabilities that we need, and we will resource that appropriately, which is what I've said, and what the Prime Minister has also said, and we will do that in a manner which meets the strategic moment,' Mr Marles said. ADF chief David Johnston warned on Wednesday that Australia must consider launching combat operations from its own territory, saying Canberra needed to rethink the national preparedness. 'Perhaps finally we are having to reconsider Australia as a homeland from which we will conduct combat operations,' he told a major defence conference. 'That is a very different way, almost since the Second World War, of how we think of national resilience and preparedness.' Admiral Johnston said Australia 'might need to operate and conduct operations from this country'. Asked on Thursday if Australians were 'fully aware' of the risks facing their country, Mr Marles said there was 'at the academic level, a lot of discussion'. 'But I would also say that at the level of main street, when you're talking to people across Australia … there is a broad sense that we live in a much more complex world,' he said. 'That world is uncertain, and that we need a government which is focused on national security.'
Telegraph
a day ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Starmer agrees to spend 3.5pc on defence after bowing to Nato pressure
Britain has agreed to significantly ramp up defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP after bowing to pressure from Nato. Mark Rutte, the alliance's secretary-general, said a 'historic' decision had been made to invest more on tanks, fighter jets, air defence, drones and long-range missiles at a meeting of defence ministers in Brussels. The Dutchman proposed a rise in defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP, and a further 1.5 per cent on related infrastructure, to meet the challenges posed by a resurgence of Moscow. It was only on Monday that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in his strategic defence review promised to spend 3 per cent of GDP on the military by the end of the next parliament, but failed to explain how that would be funded. That plan was undermined within 24 hours, after Nato demanded the Government raise that figure to 3.5 per cent. Now that Sir Keir has agreed to the further increase, he will face renewed pressure to set out concrete plans on how he can pay for it. It is expected that Nato's first spending plan in over a decade will be signed off when the alliance's leaders gather for their annual summit in The Hague later this month. The dramatic increase in defence spending was brokered under pressure from US president Donald Trump, who has suggested he could withdraw American support for the alliance if its members fail to hit expenditure targets. Mr Rutte acknowledged that governments started to spend more on defence in the wake of complaints by the US president during his first term in the White House. But the Nato chief added: 'We don't have to do this because of an audience of one, we have to do this to keep one billion people safe.' 'It's important the UK gets there' Earlier, Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of defence, singled out the importance of Britain meeting the new goals in response to a question over Sir Keir's pledge to spend only 3 per cent of GDP on defence. 'We think everyone is going to get there, we really do. It's important they do. It's important that the UK gets there,' Mr Hegseth told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting in Brussels. He argued the extra investment by European allies and Canada was crucial to keep pace with a pledge by Mr Trump to spend $1 trillion on defence in an upcoming budget. 'When you consider the threats that we face, the urgency in the world, it's critical,' Mr Hegseth said. 'We don't need more flags, we need more fighting formations. We don't need more conferences. We need more capabilities, hard power.' Critics have argued that American demands for European governments to invest more in defence will hurt spending on hospitals, schools and other civilian projects. But Mr Rutte said the investment in weapons was needed more than ever, as Russia currently produces as much ammunition every three months as Nato does in a year. 'For the next three years, we are fine, but we have to start now. Otherwise three, four, five years from now, we are really under threat,' he added. 'I may be using rhetoric here, but I really mean it that you will have to get your Russian language course or go to New Zealand.' Talks on the exact details of the defence spending pledge to be made in The Hague will continue in the weeks running up to the summit. Departing the meeting in Brussels, Mr Hegseth said he was confident that there would be a deal. 'Countries in there are well exceeding 2 per cent, and we think very close, almost near consensus, on a 5 per cent commitment for Nato in The Hague later this month,' he said. Mr Hegseth said it was 'heartening' to hear his European counterparts agree to White House demands to become less reliant on America for the continent's security. The Pentagon chief earlier this year shocked Nato allies by insisting that America could no longer be Europe's main security guarantor, as it had to focus Washington's attention on the growing threat posed by China. 'I have total confidence we will get there,' Mr Rutte said on Thursday. 'Look at the Russian threat. The Chinese build-up. We live in a different world. We live in a more dangerous world.' Spain emerged as the country diplomats were most concerned about hitting the target, after its defence minister claimed it could meet the new capability targets while spending just 2 per cent of GDP. Margarita Robles later insisted Madrid would not veto any agreement, even if it did not agree with setting a 'fixed percentage' figure. The new capability targets will see a number of dramatic changes to European defence, including Germany increasing the size of its armed forces by 'around 50,000 to 60,000' more soldiers, according to defence minister Boris Pistorius. The Netherlands also expects to more than double its military from 70,000 to 200,000 personnel in the next five years. Without any reference to the 5 per cent spending goal, Defence Secretary John Healey said 'war-fighting readiness' was at the centre of future plans for Britain's armed forces.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
US tells Britain it needs to spends 5% on defence and 'it's important they get there' as US prepares for WW3
The United States has urged Britain to hike its defence spending to five per cent as NATO members close in on agreeing new targets. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a NATO summit today, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth singled out Britain in a call to urgently raise its spending. 'Our friends in the UK... we're going to get there,' he said, after meeting with fellow defence ministers to discuss revised commitments across the bloc. 'We think everyone is going to get there, we really do. It's important they do. It's important that the UK gets there.' Hegseth has been crusading to get partners in Europe to shoulder more of the financial burden as the US recalibrates its focus towards China. No country has yet reached the five per cent goal - not even the US - but Hegseth said today there was progress on agreeing to the target after talks in Brussels. 'I'm very encouraged by what we heard in there,' he said after this morning's meeting with fellow defence ministers. 'Countries in there are well exceeding two per cent and we think very close, almost near consensus, on a five per cent commitment to NATO.' Sir Keir Starmer is now set to meet the head of NATO next week, with the alliance expected to call on countries to increase spending. Downing Street has said that the Prime Minister is likely to raise the question of how 'we can ensure all allies meet their stated pledges in support of our collective defence', when he meets secretary general Mark Rutte on Monday. Rutte is thought to be pushing for members to commit to spending 3.5% on the military, with a further 1.5% on defence-related measures. Still, the sum is a far cry from pledges made to date. Britain's long-awaited strategic defence review (SDR), unveiled this week, detailed ambitions to reach three per cent in the next parliament. In 2014, NATO Heads of State and Government agreed to commit two per cent of their GDP to defence spending in the wake of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. But a decade later, just 22 allies of 32 members were expected to meet or exceed the target. It was a significant jump from three in 2014. 'This alliance, we believe, in a matter of weeks, will be committing to five percent - 3.5 percent in hard military and 1.5 percent in infrastructure and defence-related activities,' Hegseth said after Thursday's talks. 'That combination constitutes a real commitment, and we think every country can step up.' Military spending has been under close scrutiny across the bloc since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Donald Trump repeatedly accused his predecessor, Joe Biden, of sending huge sums to Ukraine - citing contested figures much larger than anything reported - before suspending aid to Kyiv in March. While the administration has since resumed some aid sales to Ukraine and agreed a critical minerals deal with the country, Hegseth has told allies that they cannot expect the US to prop up Kyiv in the face of an increasingly belligerent Russia. Speaking ahead of today's summit, Hegseth touted 'deterrence and peace through strength', but warned 'it can't be reliance'. 'It cannot and will not be reliance on America in a world of a lot of threats,' he said. 'Every shoulder has to be to the plough. Every country has to contribute at that level of 5% as a recognition of the threat.' He did soften some of the rhetoric employed earlier this year, assuring allies that the US is 'proud to be here' and to 'stand with our allies'. Arriving in Brussels, Rutte told reporters he expects allies will 'agree on capability targets' today. 'What we will do today is to decide what do we defend ourselves,' he said. 'So, as you know, to prepare for war, spend more. And when you originally prepared for war, you will not be attacked.' 'We're here to continue the work that President Trump started, which is a commitment to 5% defence spending across the alliance, which we think will happen,' Hegseth had stressed ahead of the summit. But most partners are some way off the target sought by the United States. All members increased their military spending in 2024 against the backdrop of the War in Ukraine. Total military spending amounted to $1506bn, or 55% of global military expenditure, with 18 of 32 members spending at least 2% of GDP on their militaries, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Of that sum, the US alone spent $997bn, or 66% of the bloc's total spend. According to the most recent available data from NATO, 22 allies were expected to meet or exceed the target of investing at least two per cent of GDP in defence last year. Poland, one of the most rapidly militarising members, is expected to spend 4.7% on defence in 2025. Sir Keir Starmer unveiled the long-awaited strategic defence review (SDR) at the Govan shipbuilding yard in Scotland this week, setting out a path to transform Britain's defence capabilities over the next decade. 'As the UK steps up to take on more responsibility for European security, we must have a 'NATO first' defence policy and lead within the Alliance,' a statement from the Ministry of Defence read, issued Monday. 'The UK will become the leading edge of innovation in NATO.' The review, compiled by a team led by Labour peer and former NATO chief Lord George Robertson, made a total of 62 recommendations to make Britain war ready, including: An 'ambition to reach 3%' GDP spending in the next parliament - but no hard commitment; Building up to 12 attack submarines for the Royal Navy via the AUKUS alliance with Australia and the United States; Investment of £15bn in Britain's sovereign warhead programme in this parliament; Investment in munitions and building at least six new energetics and munitions factories in the UK, creating more than 1,000 jobs; Increasing the size of the regular Army from 73,000 to 76,000 in the next parliament; A Defence Readiness Bill, giving the government 'additional powers' to support the mobilisation of industry and Reserves for war-readiness; Wider MoD spending on novel technologies each year, with ambitions to become a leading tech-enabled defence power' by 2035. European defence companies welcomed the review. Hugo Vanbockryck, Senior Vice President, Market Area Europe at Patria, told MailOnline: 'The Strategic Defence Review represents a significant and welcome shift in the UK's approach to defence preparedness and industrial strategy.' 'We fully support the UK government's commitment to rebuilding defence capabilities and strengthening alliances. 'Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine has underscored the need for deeper collaboration among European allies and the importance of warfighting readiness, principles clearly reflected in the Review's NATO-first doctrine.' The Finnish defence company earlier this year agreed a partnership with London's Babcock to develop a 6x6 Armoured Personnel Carrier to be offered to the UK Armed Forces. Economists warned that tax rises may be needed to fund proposals outlined in the strategic defence review.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Hegseth says Nato allies ‘very close' to raising defence spending target to 5%
The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said Nato allies were 'very close, almost near consensus' to an agreement to significantly raise targets for defence spending to 5% of GDP in the next decade. The Trump administration official indicated he expected the increased target to be agreed at a summit in The Hague later this month – and confirmed that the headline figure was to be split into two parts. 'This alliance, in a matter of weeks, will be committing to 5%: 3.5% in hard military and 1.5% in infrastructure and defence-related activities. That combination constitutes a real commitment,' he said. Hegseth was speaking at a press conference at Nato headquarters in Brussels after the morning session of an all-day meeting of defence ministers from the 32-country transatlantic military alliance. 'I'm very encouraged by what we heard in there,' Hegseth told reporters. 'Countries in there are well exceeding 2% and we think very close, almost near consensus, on a 5% commitment to Nato.' Nato's current target level for military spending, agreed at a summit in Cardiff in 2014, is 2% of GDP, but Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that European allies and Canada do not spend enough compared to the US. In an attempt to avoid Trump wrecking the first Nato summit of his second term, the alliance's new secretary general, Mark Rutte, proposed a 3.5% plus 1.5% target, though there is some ambiguity about the target date. Initial reports suggested that Rutte wanted allies to hit the target from 2032, though earlier this week British sources suggested the date could be 2035. Sweden's defence minister said he would like to see the target hit by 2030. Only Poland currently exceeds the 3.5% target for hard military spending at 4.32%, according to Nato figures, while the US defence budget, the largest in the alliance, amounts to 3.4% of GDP, at $967bn (£711bn). The UK spends 2.33% of GDP on its military, but has pledged to increase that to 2.5% by 2027 and to 3% sometime in the next parliament. Earlier this week the prime minister, Keir Starmer, declined to set a firm date for the UK achieving 3% as he unveiled a strategic defence review. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Rutte will visit London on Monday to meet Starmer before the summit. Downing Street said the prime minister and the secretary general would 'talk about how we ensure all allies step up their defence spending now in order to respond to the threats that we face now'. Germany's defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said Berlin would need up to 60,000 additional troops to meet new Nato targets for weapons and personnel. 'We are stepping up to our responsibility as Europe's largest economy,' the minister said on Thursday. Germany, which currently spends 2.12% of GDP on defence, had been singled out by Trump as a laggard in spending, though until Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Berlin had been reluctant to be a leader in European military spending, partly due to the memories of the militarism of the second world war.
