Countries in the NATO alliance are witnessing broad grins, as the competition in defense spending continues to escalate among the participating nations, with the U.S. being a significant player.
Everyone at NATO knows about battles. Sometimes you come up victorious and sometimes you have to concede defeat. And here, it's the Americans who are exuding triumph.
It's long been a refrain from President Trump that European nations ought to shell out more dough on defense. During his first term in office, when he frequently ridiculed NATO, he intensified a long-running debate; now it seems like we're approaching a resolution.
When we chatted with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, there was an extra bounce in his step.
"We all need increased capabilities and we all need to spend more," he said.
"Thank you to President Trump for revitalizing this alliance. It was an alliance that was stumbling towards irrelevance, and President Trump, in his first term, said you need to step up and spend more. And he has in this term done the same."
More on Donald Trump
- Sipping coffee in America, under threat of death from the Taliban in Afghanistan
- Trump vs Musk has turned nasty quickly, and TV's joke writers will be the only ones to benefit
- Musk vs Trump: The Big Beautiful Breakup
Related Topics:
- Donald Trump
- NATO
- Russia
- Ukraine
"What I witnessed in there," gesturing towards the meeting rooms where all the ministers had gathered, "were countries ready to push the limits of what they could do. That's a good thing. That's friends helping friends."
Mr. Hegseth entered this meeting in Brussels with one major demand - for NATO allies to bump up their defense spending to a total of 5% of GDP - an amount none of them are spending presently.
Of that, he believes that at least 3.5% should be devoted to core defense spending - soldiers, planes, guns, and so on - while the remaining 1.5% could be spent on other "defense-related" elements - infrastructure, espionage, civil defense.
Pot one is clear. Pot two is fuzzy - nobody seems quite sure what counts as "defense-related." Climate change resilience, for instance, has been suggested by some countries. That will need sorting out.
But even the 3.5% demand is a massive one.
According to the latest data I've examined, only one NATO member presently meets that target - and no, that isn't America.
That's Poland, which has increased military spending following the neighboring Ukraine invasion. Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia have all done the same, keeping a nervous eye on Russia.
The United States sits at 3.4% of GDP. But that's 3.4% of a massive number, so it amounts to a colossal amount of spending.
To put it into perspective, more than a third of worldwide spending on defense is performed by America.
Take a look at the top 10 nations in the world for defense spending, and America is top by a significant margin. It spends more than the other nine countries on that list combined.
Enhanced military spending might be beneficial for global security, but until such time as Europe expands its defense industry, it's also great news for the American economy.
Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary-general, acknowledged that it was a formidable challenge, but said that he wouldn't tolerate countries merely kicking the financial can down the road. Countries will be closely monitored to ensure they are making steady progress towards the 5% target. A finish line hasn't been established yet, but it's probably going to be ten years from now. Still, Rutte stated he didn't want "hockey sticks" - the statistical model where things stay flat for a long time, and the big rise only comes at the end.
The increase in military spending proposed by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, following the NATO meeting in Brussels, is a significant shift in policy-and-legislation related to defense. This shift, if implemented, would likely have a profound impact on war and politics, as well as general news, due to the potential financial burden on NATO allies and the strategic advantages it could bring for the United States.
The demands made by Secretary Hegseth, such as the 5% of GDP defense spending target, if met, could alter the balance of power in Europe, and potentially the global stage, given the current military spending pattern dominated by the United States. The outcome of this proposed shift could be a topic of extensive debate in the realms of war, politics, and general news.
