Ten months ago, former President Donald Trump made his headline-making remark that he would tell Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" in Europe unless members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization paid what he considered their fair share of NATO dues.
Despite charges from President Joe Biden that Trump was "abandon[ing] "our NATO allies and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that he was putting European and American soldiers at risk, Trump's admonishment has apparently had an impact on some of the NATO countries and they are increasingly reaching the target of 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) for defense.
Of 32 NATO members, 23 now meet the 2% target — up from only six members who did so in 2021.
All told, the NATO countries together spend 2.71% of their GDP on defense spending.
"Donald Trump has his own way of expressing himself on this issue and it's not mine," Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze told Newsmax last week, "But however one says it, it is clear that the [NATO] allies need to spend more on defense."
Motivated by a firm commitment to support Ukraine in its war with Russia, Latvia — a country of 2 million people — raised its defense spending last year to 2.4%. This year, the defense expenditure was 3.17% of GDP, and next year it will rise to 3.5%. In 2026, Braze explained, "it will go up to 3.7%."
With the 2024 defense budget at 1.12 billion euros, Latvian Television reported, added were "200 million for air defense, 10 million euros for strengthening the eastern border, and 3 million for patrolling the Baltic airspace."
"We support Ukraine," Braze told us flatly, "This is a principle of one country invading another and we must stand up for Ukraine. In fact, 1% of our GDP is devoted to supporting Ukraine."
With Putin escalating the war to include "chemical warfare and bombing installations, support of Ukraine from us and our NATO allies is more critical than ever."
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