U.S. expecting NATO members to show them the money at leaders' summit

Short and sweet is not usually a phrase associated with the annual NATO leaders' summit, but arguably that's what many member nations are hoping for as U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the table. 

The gathering of allied leaders will be the first for Prime Minister Mark Carney and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who is hosting in his home country, the Netherlands. 

What was originally expected to be a broad, bold agenda has been narrowed to perhaps a single catchphrase: Show me the money. 

Member nations will debate increasing the benchmark for defence spending from the current two per cent of the gross domestic product to a combined five per cent (3.5 per cent for direct military funding and an additional 1.5 per cent for defence infrastructure). 

Allies agreed to the tightly focused agenda in order to minimize the potential of facing the wrath of Trump. There will be a dinner with the Dutch royal family on Tuesday and then a meeting of the North Atlantic Council on Wednesday before leaders fly home.

Canada arrives at the summit fresh off Carney's pledge to increase defence spending by $9.3 billion this year in order to meet the existing two per cent target.

Going to five per cent is another matter entirely. Carney has said it's not about picking a number and spending up to it.

Prior to the summit, there were published reports that NATO countries all agreed to hit the five per cent target over the next decade. That is unlikely to please countries such as Spain, which openly balked at the U.S.-imposed target. 

Even Belgium's conservative prime minister, Bart De Wever, was skeptical when asked about it on Monday.

"I'm not comfortable at all with the five per cent figure. It's huge," De Wever told Canadian journalists following a Second World War commemoration ceremony in Antwerp. 

"The breakdown in 3.5 and 1.5 helps a bit … but 3.5 means that we almost have to triple what we're spending on defence. We've jumped to two per cent, we're more or less in the same situation as Canada."

Veteran Canadian diplomat Sen. Peter Boehm said avoiding the new target would be hard in the current geopolitical climate. 

"There may not be much of a choice," Boehm told CBC News in a recent interview.

A former U.S. ambassador to NATO, Kurt Volker, said no one should underestimate Washington's single-minded focus on the target — and the words Trump wants to hear.