NATO Defense Secretary has been inclined to join U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand that members of the Western military coalition invest 5% of their GDP in the military and related defense infrastructure.
Ministers met in Brussels on Thursday to approve what the allies call “ambitious” new capability goals, which they believe will lead to “a stronger, fairer, and deadly alliance” that will be ready for battle if necessary.
How to fund these goals will become the subject of debate when NATO leaders meet in The Hague, Netherlands at the end of this month.
The center of the funding proposal is calling on allies to spend 5% of their GDP on national defense, which is 3.5% of basic military capabilities, and another 1.5% of defense and security-related investments in GDP, including infrastructure and individual national resilience.
Canada is far from these benchmarks, according to NATO's 2024 annual report released in late April.
It shows that the federal government spent 1.3% of its GDP on defense in 2023, and is estimated to increase to 1.45% in 2024.
At the meeting of defense ministers on Thursday, newly appointed Defense Minister David McGuinty was asked whether Canada intends to achieve its new goals.
“Canada is re-examining all its spending from top to bottom,” McGindy told reporters, noting recent plans $600 million investment in cooperation with Australia Establish a lateral radar system to monitor the Canadian Arctic.
Canada, led by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, faces continued criticism from allies as he fails to meet two-tenths of NATO's current GDP target. At the leaders' summit in Washington last year, complaints of falling out broke out in the Open, with U.S. Congressmen publicly calling on Canada to pull out their weight – a spectacle that prompted the Liberal government to commit to reaching its targets by 2032 to 2032.
McGuinty will not commit to meeting the revised benchmark, but said Prime Minister Mark Carney will address Canada's defense spending at the upcoming summit.
“The realistic timetable is now working for the summit of the actual Dutch leaders,” he said. “Our prime minister will be there and will make an announcement in this regard. Please stay tuned.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday he believes almost all allies are on board, which means they scored 5% of GDP goals over the next decade.
“We are very encouraged by the voices there,” Heggs told reporters in the media.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has been pushing for a revision to pacify Trump’s efforts, but people are looking forward to when to reach it.
Media reports show that the NATO director hopes that members will reach new goals by 2032. Currently, Poland is the only NATO country to exceed 3.5% of its hard military spending target, accounting for 4.32% of its GDP.
The United States has the world's largest defense budget, spending 3.4% of its GDP on the military.
