Rubio: NATO Members Will Agree to 5 Percent Defense Spending

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that all NATO members will have agreed on a goal of spending the equivalent to 5% of GDP on defense over the next decade by the 2025 NATO Summit in June.

President Donald Trump cut defense funding to NATO during the latter part of his first term in 2017-21, and has frequently complained that the U.S. is paying more than its fair share.

"I can tell you that we are headed for a summit in six weeks, in which virtually every member of NATO will be at or above 2% but more importantly, many of them will be over 4% and all will have agreed on the goal of reaching 5% over the next decade," said Rubio.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said this week that Berlin backed a demand by Trump for members of the defense alliance to increase defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP).

Germany in January said it met NATO's target of spending 2% of its GDP on defense in 2024.

The 2025 NATO Summit will be held in the Netherlands from June 24-25.