U.S. President-elect, Donald Trump has called on NATO members to raise the defense budget target from 2% to 5% of GDP, , reiterating his previous requests for Europe to increase security spending.
Trump isn’t the only one calling for increased defense expenditure. Other members of the 32-member alliance regard Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as well as Trump’s isolationism, as an opportunity to take greater responsibility for their collective security.
Allies are reportedly discussing raising the spending level to 3% by 2030, still below Trump’s proposed target.
“I think NATO should have 5%,” Trump said at a news conference in Florida.
This confirms earlier reports about the incoming U.S. president urging allies to raise defense spending to a benchmark no NATO member has reached as of now, including the U.S.
As of 2025, some NATO members like Italy, Canada, or Spain have not even reached the current 2% target, though the number of allies that do has risen to 24 last year.
According to NATO estimates, Poland spent the greatest portion of its GDP on defense (4.12%) in 2024, followed by Estonia (3.43%) and the U.S. (3.38%).
Last February, Trump drew international uproar by stating that he would urge Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO member countries that failed to fulfil defense expenditure targets, demonstrating his disrespect for the alliance’s common defense premise.
