NATO on Thursday said all its members were finally set this year to hit the alliance's defense spending target of 2 percent of GDP -- as they gear up for a far more ambitious goal.
The 32-nation military alliance agreed at a June summit in the Hague to massively hike defense spending over the next decade under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump pushed through a commitment from allies to cough up 5 percent of their GDPs on security-related spending in a move seen as key to keeping him engaged with NATO.
That headline figure breaks down as 3.5 percent on core defense spending and 1.5 percent on a looser range of areas such as infrastructure and cybersecurity.
The new target replaces the alliance's former military spending goal of 2 percent that was first set back in 2014.
NATO said in a statement that all allies were now expected to reach that goal in 2025 and that overall defense spending across the alliance would top $1.5 trillion for the year.
That comes after a group of stragglers -- including Spain, Belgium and Italy -- hastily announced plans to reach 2 percent ahead of the Hague gathering.
The struggle to reach that figure highlights how difficult it will be for NATO countries in Europe to achieve Trump's far higher new target set this year.
During his 2016 campaign and early presidency, Trump frequently criticized NATO members for relying on the United States while failing to invest sufficiently in their own defense.
At the May 2017 NATO summit in Brussels, Trump directly confronted the alliance leaders, declaring that “23 of the 28 nations are still not paying what they should be paying … This is not fair to the people and the taxpayers of the United States.”
Trump also used the term “delinquent” to describe under‑performing NATO countries, implying that each should pay up for the protection it receives.
As Axios reported, b early 2024, Trump had reiterated that he would keep the U.S. in NATO “100%”—but only if all members pay their “fair share” and “play fair.”
Officials insist European countries must make good on their pledge if they are to have the capabilities needed to ward off Russia.
Numerous Western militaries and intelligence services have warned that Moscow could be ready to attack a NATO country within three to five years if the war in Ukraine ends.
Washington -- which has underpinned European security since World War II -- meanwhile insists it wants to shift more of the responsibility for the continent's defences onto European countries.
The Pentagon is currently conducting a review of its worldwide deployments and has warned it could look to scale back its footstep in Europe to focus more on China.
While some European countries have lagged behind on defense spending, NATO members close to Russia such as Poland and the Baltic states are already set to reach five percent of GDP in the next few years.
Poland was projected to be the highest spending NATO country in 2025 at 4.48 percent.
The United States currently spends 3.22 percent of its GDP on defense, but makes up the lion's share of the alliance's total expenditure in dollar terms.
Newsmax contributed to this report.