NATO Secretary General: This year, defense spending of all Alliance countries will reach 2% of GDP

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated at the G7 leadersʼ summit in Canada that by 2025, defense spending of all Alliance members will reach 2% of GDP on defense.

He said this was made possible after Portuguese Prime Minister Luiz Montenegro reported in early June that the country would reach 2% this year. Rutte also welcomed Canadaʼs decision to do the same.

"The fact that you have decided to bring Canadaʼs NATO spending to 2% this year is truly fantastic," he said.

What preceded

The US President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded that European leaders invest more money in NATO. He has previously said that he would “encourage” Russia to “do whatever it wants” with NATO member states that have failed to meet their financial obligations to the Alliance.

Rutte is confident that countries can achieve defense spending of 5% of GDP. But at a press conference in early June, he told reporters that the timeline “remains subject to consultation”.

Bloomberg reported that Secretary General Rutte’s office circulated a proposal that set a 2032 deadline. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on June 12 that ten years was a reasonable time to achieve the goal. Other NATO members have called for faster action.

In May, the Financial Times reported that Spain remained the last major NATO member that had not yet agreed to US President Donald Trumpʼs plan to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2032.

• As of 2024, the Alliance leaders in defense spending as a percentage of GDP were Poland (4.12%), Estonia (3.43%), the United States (3.38%), Latvia (3.15%), and Greece (3.08%).

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