Above photo: US Department of Defense.
President Donald Trump insists NATO members must increase defense spending.
Amid the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called on NATO allies to adopt US President Donald Trump’s former demand that member states increase defense spending to five percent of their gross domestic product (GDP), a significant jump from the current target of two percent.
Hegseth made the remarks on 5 June during a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels, with the aim of finalizing commitments before the upcoming summit in The Hague scheduled for 24–26 June.
“We’re here to continue the work that President Trump started, which is a commitment to five percent defense spending across this alliance,” Hegseth said, emphasizing that the increase “has to happen by the summit.”
“To be an alliance, you got to be more than flags. You got to be formations. You got to be more than conferences,” Hegseth said as he arrived at the meeting in Brussels. He emphasized US plans to focus on “threats” in the Indo-Pacific.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, standing alongside Hegseth, expressed agreement on the urgent need for higher defense investment to meet evolving security threats.
“Today will be an important meeting because we will agree on the capability targets we need going forward to keep one billion people safe in NATO territory,” Rutte said, referencing plans for a collective increase in both military personnel and equipment.
To meet Trump’s five percent demand, Rutte has proposed that alliance members commit 3.5 percent of GDP to traditional defense and an additional 1.5 percent to broader security-related infrastructure.
However, the final framework remains under negotiation, particularly over what constitutes “defense-related” spending.
“We already know we need to spend much, much more if we want to fulfill all these targets,” Rutte added.
Germany, for instance, may need 50,000 to 60,000 additional active-duty soldiers to meet new capability benchmarks, according to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
Yet there is still disagreement over the timeline. Rutte’s proposed deadline of 2032 has been criticized as too distant by countries like Estonia, whose Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur argued, “We need to agree on the five percent in five years. We don’t have time for 10 years.”
Sweden has suggested reaching the goal by 2030, while other nations remain hesitant, given current industrial and fiscal limitations.
Hegseth, echoing his earlier calls from February, insisted that the alliance must ensure peace through strength without over-relying on the US. “It cannot – and will not – be reliance on America,” he said.
Rutte thanked Hegseth for his leadership and affirmed that “hard and necessary” conversations would continue as allies prepare for critical decisions later this month.
The push for more NATO spending comes amid the alliance’s support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
NATO continues to commit significant resources to arm and fund the Ukrainian army in the conflict, which has now reached its third year.
On 4 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he questioned the value of negotiating with Ukraine after deadly attacks on infrastructure in Russia killed seven people and injured 115 more.
Two bridges in Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk regions collapsed overnight on 31 May in what Russian authorities have described as terrorist attacks orchestrated by Ukraine.
Moscow continues to occupy large segments of Ukraine and has annexed four Ukrainian oblasts comprising primarily Russian speakers. Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022 following a nearly decade-long US-backed military build-up and calls for Ukraine to become a NATO member.
