Latest news with #NATOallies
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NATO allies agree to boost defense spending to 5% at The Hague summit
PARIS — NATO allies agreed to boost defense spending to 5% of GDP, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said after a vote of the 32 member countries on Wednesday at a summit in The Hague. As part of the agreement, allies committed to investing at least 3.5% of GDP on 'core defense requirements,' up from the current target of 2%, Rutte said at a press conference following two days of meetings. The NATO secretary-general credited United States President Donald Trump for the result, saying the spending increase wouldn't have happened without him. Trump has repeatedly criticized European NATO members and Canada for not spending enough on defense, suggesting the U.S. might not honor the alliance's mutual-defense commitments for allies that don't step up. As recently as two years ago, most NATO countries had failed to meet a 2% spending target agreed at a summit in Wales in 2014. 'All allies are united in the understanding that we need to step up to stay safe,' Rutte said. 'European allies and Canada will do more of the heavy lifting, equalizing their spending and taking greater responsibility for our shared security.' Rutte said Trump has been clear that the United States is commited to NATO and 'affirmed it again today in no uncertain terms,' while at the same time making clear that the country expects Europe and Canada to contribute more. He said NATO's Article 5 mutual-defense clause 'is absolutely clear,' but the alliance doesn't provide details on what will trigger it to avoid helping adversaries. In a press conference before heading back to Washington, Trump struck a conciliatory tone as he sought to harvest praise for the spending boost. 'I came here thinking it's something I'm supposed to be doing,' he said. The summit proceedings had changed his mind, as he absorbed individual messages of patriotism from alliance member representatives, Trump said. 'It's not a rip-off,' he told reporters, reversing his long-held grievance, at least for the moment, that Europeans were taking advantage of the United States. 'We'll help them protect their country.' The U.S. has been asking for allies to lift defense spending since the 1950s, and the agreement reached in The Hague will make the alliance more stable, according to Rutte. He said there is a need to bolster NATO in the face of a threatening Russia, as well as an 'impressive military buildup' by China. Rutte said Russia is a short-term and long-term menace to the alliance, with intelligence suggesting the country could be ready to attack NATO in the next three to seven years. 'The Russia threat is there, and we need to make sure to be able to defend ourselves.' With Trump having demanded NATO allies spend 5% of GDP on defense, the agreement in The Hague is a bit of a workaround, with 3.5% for core defense tasks and an additional 1.5% on measures that support defense and security, for example investment in infrastructure and cyber defense. 'These decisions will have a profound impact on our ability to do what NATO was founded to do, deter and defend,' Rutte said. U.S. spending on core defense is around the required level already, and its spending on infrastructure, cyber and hybrid threats and developing the defense-industrial base puts the country 'more or less' at 5%, according to Rutte. The NATO leader said Trump 'was totally right' that Europe and Canada were not providing to the alliance what they should. Trump said in a press conference with Rutte before the vote that the agreement to increase spending was 'a great victory for everybody, I think, and we will be equalized very shortly, and that's the way it has to be. And it's going to be a lot of money too, a lot of defense.' Rutte said more spending will fund air defenses, ammunition, drones, tanks and troops. He said NATO needs to expand defense industrial capacity on both sides of the Atlantic, which could potentially create millions of new jobs across the alliance. 'We need quality and quantity,' the secretary-general said. 'We need to innovate and we need to act fast.' Some countries including Spain and Belgium have questioned the 3.5% target, and Rutte said Spain estimates it can reach its NATO capability targets while spending 2.1% of GDP on defense. The secretary-general said allies will report on how they will reach the capability targets, and NATO will 'anyway have a review of all of this' in 2029. Spain has consistently been at or near the bottom of military spending in NATO, last year ranking last with an estimated 1.3% of GDP spent on defense. In his post-summit press conference, Trump blasted Spain for seeking an exception to the 5% spending goal. He suggested trying to recoup the notional funding difference by skewing U.S. trade with Madrid in Washington's favor. NATO allies have pledged more than €35 billion euros ($41 billion) for Ukraine so far this year to help the country fend of Russia's invasion, according to Rutte, who said he expects total aid in 2025 to surpass last year's pledged support of more than €50 billion. Sebastian Sprenger in Cologne, Germany, contributed to this report.
Al Arabiya
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Trump says he will make ‘major statement' on Russia next week
US President Donald Trump told NBC News on Thursday that he will make a 'major statement' on Russia on Monday, without providing further details. In recent days, Trump has voiced frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russia's war in Ukraine. 'I think I'll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday,' Trump said, declining to elaborate. Trump also told NBC News about what he called a new deal between the US, NATO allies and Ukraine over weapons shipment from the United States. 'We're sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%. So what we're doing is the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons (to Ukraine), and NATO is paying for those weapons,' Trump said. 'We send weapons to NATO, and NATO is going to reimburse the full cost of those weapons,' he added. For the first time since returning to office, Trump will send weapons to Kyiv under a presidential power frequently used by his predecessor, two sources familiar with the decision said on Thursday. Trump's team will identify arms from US stockpiles to send to Ukraine under the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the president to draw from weapons stocks to help allies in an emergency, the sources said, with one saying they could be worth around $300 million. Trump on Tuesday said the US would send more weapons to Ukraine to help the country defend itself against intensifying Russian advances. The package could include defensive Patriot missiles and offensive medium-range rockets, but a decision on the exact equipment has not been made, the sources said. One of the people said this would happen at a meeting on Thursday. The Trump administration has so far only sent weapons authorized by former President Joe Biden, who was a staunch supporter of Kyiv. The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump had pledged to swiftly end the war but months into his presidency, little progress has been made. The Republican president has sometimes criticized US spending on Ukraine's defense, spoken favorably of Russia and publicly clashed with Ukraine's leader. However, sometimes he has also voiced support for Kyiv and expressed disappointment in the leadership of Russia. Russia unleashed heavy airstrikes on Ukraine on Thursday before a conference in Rome at which Kyiv won billions of dollars in aid pledges, and US–Russian talks at which Washington voiced frustration with Moscow over the war. Two people were killed, 26 were wounded, according to figures from the national emergency services, and there was damage in nearly every part of Kyiv from missile and drone attacks on the capital and other parts of Ukraine. Addressing the Rome conference on Ukraine's reconstruction after more than three years of war, Zelenskyy urged allies to 'more actively' use Russian assets for rebuilding and called for weapons, joint defense production and investment. Participants pledged over 10 billion euros ($12 billion) to help rebuild Ukraine, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said. The European Commission, the EU's executive, announced 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in support. At talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov while in Malaysia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had reinforced the message that Moscow should show more flexibility. 'We need to see a roadmap moving forward about how this conflict can conclude,' Rubio said, adding that the Trump administration had been engaging with the US Senate on what new sanctions on Russia might look like. 'It was a frank conversation. It was an important one,' Rubio said after the 50-minute talks in Kuala Lumpur. Moscow's foreign ministry said they had shared 'a substantive and frank exchange of views.' Zelenskyy said Thursday's assault by Russia had involved around 400 drones and 18 missiles, primarily targeting the capital. Explosions and anti-aircraft fire rattled the city. Windows were blown out, facades ravaged and cars burned to shells. In the city center, an apartment in an eight-story building was engulfed in flames. 'This is terror because it happens every night when people are asleep,' said Karyna Volf, a 25-year-old Kyiv resident who rushed out of her apartment moments before it was showered with shards of glass. Air defenses stopped all but a few dozen of the drones, authorities said, a day after Russia launched a record 728 drones at Ukraine.
Arab News
26-06-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Lavrov says NATO spending increase won't significantly affect Russia's security
MOSCOW: NATO's decision to increase defense spending will not significantly affect Russia's security, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday. NATO allies on Wednesday agreed to raise their collective spending goal to 5 percent of gross domestic product over the next decade, citing what they called the long-term threat posed by Russia and the need to strengthen civil and military resilience.
Wall Street Journal
25-06-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Trump Wins the Battle of NATO
America has long asked its European allies to spend more on their own self-defense. So the astonishing news out of this week's North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit is the near unanimity: NATO allies have agreed to devote 5% of their economies to military spending, up from the current 2% floor. President Trump called the NATO plan 'a big one for Europe and for actually Western civilization,' and for once he may not be overselling. The allies will aim to spend 3.5% of GDP on hard military power by 2035. For the remaining 1.5 percentage points, countries can count peripheral but still useful investment such as hardening cyber defenses. Mark Rutte is catching flak for praising Mr. Trump, but the NATO Secretary General was correct to give the President credit. 'Would you ever think,' Mr. Rutte asked reporters, 'that this would be the result of this summit if he would not have been re-elected President?' It's a fair point. A President Kamala Harris might have shown more politeness and avoided futile public spats. But what matters is whether the alliance has the will and the means to defend itself.
CBC
25-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Trump praises NATO spending plan, slams reports doubting potency of Iranian strikes
Social Sharing NATO leaders were set to sign up on Wednesday to a big increase in defence spending at a short summit tailor-made for U.S. President Donald Trump, who struck a reassuring tone on his commitment to protecting fellow members of the alliance. The summit in The Hague is expected to endorse a higher defence spending goal of five per cent of gross domestic product — a response to a demand by Trump and to Europeans' fears that Russia poses a growing threat to their security following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. "I've been asking them to go up to five per cent for a number of years," Trump said Wednesday morning as he met with Mark Rutte, the alliance's secretary general. "I think that's going to be very big news." Speaking to media before the summit opened, Trump also played down concerns over his commitment to mutual defence among allies as set out by Article 5 of NATO's charter, saying: "We're with them all the way." The debate has been fuelled by Trump's own comments en route to the summit on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he had said there were "numerous definitions" of the clause. WATCH l Carney on Canadian defence spending plans: Carney tells CNN that new 5% NATO benchmark would cost Canada $150B a year 18 hours ago Duration 2:58 In an interview with CNN, Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged that the new spending target is 'a lot of money,' but that Canada can already account for some of it. NATO allies will debate spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence and 1.5 per cent on defence-related investments, and Carney said 1.5 per cent figure covers things Canada is already doing such as infrastructure spending. 'There is no alternative': NATO's Rutte on increase The new spending target — to be achieved over the next 10 years — is a jump worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year from the current goal of two per cent of GDP, although it will be measured differently. Countries would spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on core defence — such as troops and weapons — and 1.5 per cent on broader defence-related measures such as cyber security, protecting pipelines and adapting roads and bridges to handle heavy military vehicles. Rutte acknowledged that it was not easy for European countries and Canada to find the extra money but said it was vital to do so. "There is absolute conviction with my colleagues at the table that, given this threat from the Russians, given the international security situation, there is no alternative," he told reporters. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban diluted the display of unity when he told reporters that NATO had no business in Ukraine and that Russia was not strong enough to represent a real threat to NATO. All NATO members have backed a statement enshrining the target, although Spain declared it does not need to meet the goal and can meet its commitments by spending much less. U.S. concerns about alliance spending While the issue has become a hobby horse the past decade for Trump, U.S. predecessors Barack Obama and George W. Bush also urged alliance members to bolster their domestic defence spending. Trump has often characterized countries under NATO benchmarks as being "delinquent," but the previous guidance referred to an individual country's defence commitment, not their contribution to a joint NATO defence fund. As well, some analysts have said the flat metric can provide an incomplete picture of a country's military capabilities, its readiness and deployability. "It does not assess whether a country spends its limited resources wisely," the think-tank Carnegie Europe once said in a report. WATCH l Jennie Carignan, chief of defence staff, on Canada's ability to boost spending: Can Canada spend $150B a year on defence? 14 hours ago Duration 9:49 NATO members will soon decide whether to raise the GDP defence spending target to five per cent — which Prime Minister Mark Carney says would cost Canada up to $150 billion per year. This comes as a shaky ceasefire takes place between Israel and Iran. Chief of the Defence Staff Jennie Carignan gives an update on troops in the region, and discusses the possibility of growing the armed forces with increased defence spending. Trump was scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday. The pair had a contentious, truncated Oval Office meeting in February in Washington, though they subsequently spoke briefly while at Pope Francis's funeral in April. In his first term as American president, Trump suggested to Zelenskyy in a phone call that the Ukrainian leader should co-operate in efforts to discredit political rival Joe Biden. U.S. aid to Ukraine was delayed, Democrats impeached Trump for what they said was a quid pro quo, though Trump was eventually acquitted in the Senate. Attempts by the second Trump administration to mediate a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war have so far been unsuccessful. U.S. President Donald Trump used explicit language Tuesday morning while voicing frustration about the actions of Israel and Iran, though he later expressed confidence in a ceasefire. He also maintained that U.S. airstrikes destroyed Iran's nuclear program, despite evidence to the contrary. Trump team angered by reports on Iran strike While in Europe, Trump said that the damage to Iranian nuclear sites from American missile strikes over the weekend was severe, even as he acknowledged that the available intelligence on the matter was inconclusive. His comments followed reports by Reuters and other media outlets on Tuesday revealing that the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency had assessed that the strikes had set back Iran's nuclear program by just a few months, despite administration officials saying the program had been obliterated. "The intelligence says, 'We don't know, it could have been very severe.' That's what the intelligence says. So I guess that's correct, but I think we can take the 'we don't know'. It was very severe. It was obliteration," Trump added. Later, during the same round of comments, Trump argued that Iran's nuclear deal had been set back "basically decades, because I don't think they'll ever do it again." Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also cast doubt on the reliability of the DIA assessment. Rubio said the U.S. was opening an investigation into the leak of the DIA report. He also suggested the report's contents had been misrepresented in the media.
