Marco Rubio says NATO members will agree to 5% defence spending over next decade by June summit

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that all NATO members will have agreed on a goal of spending the equivalent to 5% of GDP on defence over the next decade by the 2025 NATO Summit in June.

He made the comments while appearing on Fox News’ “Hannity.”

US President Donald Trump cut defence funding to NATO during the latter part of his first term in 2017-21, and has frequently complained that the US is paying more than its fair share.

“I can tell you that we are headed for a summit in six weeks, in which virtually every member of NATO will be at or above 2% but more importantly, many of them will be over 4% and all will have agreed on the goal of reaching 5% over the next decade,” said Rubio.

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German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said this week that Berlin backed a demand by Trump for members of the defence alliance to increase defence spending to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP).

Germany in January said it met NATO’s target of spending 2% of its GDP on defence in 2024.

The 2025 NATO Summit will be held in the Netherlands from June 24-25.