NATO leaders expected to hike defence spending, but it won’t apply to all

The five per cent goal is made up of two parts, including agreeing to a hike pure defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP, up from the current target of at least two per cent,

NATO leaders are expected to agree this week that member countries should spend five per cent of their gross domestic product on defence, except the new and much vaunted investment pledge will not apply to all of them.

Spain has reached a deal with NATO to be excluded from the five per cent of GDP spending target, while President Donald Trump said the figure shouldn’t apply to the United States, only its allies.

In announcing Spain’s decision Sunday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the spending pledge language in NATO’s final summit communique — a one-page text of perhaps half a dozen paragraphs — would no longer refer to “all allies.”

It raises questions about what demands could be insisted on from other members of the alliance like Belgium, Canada, France and Italy that also would struggle to hike security spending by billions of dollars.

On Friday, Trump insisted the U.S. has carried its allies for years and now they must step up. “I don’t think we should, but I think they should,” he said. “NATO is going to have to deal with Spain.”

Trump also branded Canada “a low payer.”

The five per cent goal is made up of two parts. The allies would agree to hike pure defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP, up from the current target of at least two per cent, which 22 of the 32 countries have achieved. Money spent to arm Ukraine also would count.

A further 1.5 per cent would include upgrading roads, bridges, ports and airfields so armies can better deploy, establishing measures to counter cyber and hybrid attacks and preparing societies for future conflict.