CNN —Eighteen of NATO’s 31 members are expected to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense this year, the treaty organization’s leader said on Wednesday.
“That is another record number and a six-fold increase from 2014 when only three allies met their target,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday ahead of a meeting between the alliance’s defense ministers in Brussels.
Former US President Donald Trump, who is running for reelection in November, brought renewed scrutiny to the issue of defense spending among NATO members last weekend, when he said at a rally he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member country that doesn’t meet spending guidelines on defense – effectively undercutting the collective defense clause at the heart of the treaty.
The German Defense Ministry said Wednesday that its 2024 budget will see its defense spending meet the 2% threshold for the first time since the early 1990s.
NATO as a whole is expected to reach the 2% threshold for the first time this year.
Persons:
Jens Stoltenberg, Donald Trump, –, Stoltenberg, ” Stoltenberg, ”
Organizations:
CNN, NATO, Allies, German Defense Ministry
Locations:
Brussels, Russia, Canada, Germany