At the annual NATO summit, members of the alliance agreed to increase the minimum defense spending to 5% by 2035. The current minimum is 2% of GDP, a number that several states do not reach.
The statement released by the bloc following the summit explains that the new policy will call for allies to spend 3.5% of GDP on traditional defense, and 1.5% on a nation’s critical infrastructure to reach the 5% target. The new minimum level will not take effect until 2025.
“Allies agree that this 5% commitment will comprise two essential categories of defence investment.” The statement continues, “Allies will allocate at least 3.5% of GDP annually based on the agreed definition of NATO defence expenditure by 2035.”
“Allies agree to submit annual plans showing a credible, incremental path to reach this goal. And Allies will account for up to 1.5% of GDP annually to inter alia protect our critical infrastructure,” it adds.
Increasing minimum war spending to 5% was a demand of President Donald Trump. However, several alliance members resisted the initiative, including Spain and France. Additionally, some states pushed for a faster timeline that would require members to increase defense spending by 2032.
US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker was one of the advocates for an accelerated timeline. “We are currently negotiating within the North Atlantic Council the timelines and what’s included in the 5%, both from a core defense standpoint and also defense-related and security-related spending,” he argued earlier this month.
The current requirement is 2%, and only 23 of 32 members meet that threshold. Spain and Italy will hit the minimum level for the first time this year, while Canada is not expected to spend more than 2% of its GDP on defense until 2027.
According to NATO statistics, in 2024, only Poland spent over 4% of its GDP on its military. Four countries, including the US, spend over 3% on defense. For the US, this would mean spending $1.45 trillion annually on the war budget.
Earlier this month, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was pressing members to support the 5% minimum by claiming that Russia would be ready for war with the alliance within five years.
