NATO members increased overall defense spending for a second consecutive year in 2017 as President Donald Trump turned longstanding U.S. calls for Europe to foot more of the common security bill into blunt criticism of allies.
Total defense expenditure by North Atlantic Treaty Organization members grew to 2.42 percent of their gross domestic product last year from 2.4 percent, the alliance said in an annual report released on Thursday in Brussels. The increase in 2016 was the first since 2009.
The U.S. led with defense expenditure of 3.57 percent of GDP last year, up from 3.56 percent, while European nations boosted their spending on such outlays to an average 1.46 percent from 1.44 percent, according to the report. Canada, the second North American member of NATO, registered 1.29 percent last year compared with 1.16 percent in 2016.
“European allies and Canada are doing more, stepping up, contributing more to our shared security,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters. “Allies are investing in major new capabilities.”
Germany, a particular focus of scolding by Trump, increased defense outlays to 1.24 percent of GDP from 1.2 percent, while Spain posted a rise to 0.92 percent from 0.81 percent. France was unchanged at 1.79 percent, as was Italy at 1.12 percent.
With the U.S. accounting for about 70 percent of NATO’s overall defense expenditure, Washington has been pressing allies for years to contribute more. Trump’s move into the White House with his “America First” agenda heightened the political tensions, particularly at a May 25 summit when the president refused to offer an explicit endorsement of NATO’s collective-defense clause and instead hectored fellow leaders to pay more for defense.
As the Trump administration gears up to apply tariffs to foreign steel and aluminum on national-security grounds and signals European Union nations may be denied an exemption because their military spending is relatively low, Stoltenberg went out of his way to praise Germany -- the EU’s top economy -- for its defense efforts.
“Germany increased defense spending last year by around 6 percent in real terms,” he said. “That’s really a big increase and it adds to the European defense spending in a significant way.”
Spending Target
In 2014, NATO members pledged to spend at least 2 percent of their GDP on defense by 2024. In Europe, only Estonia, Greece and the U.K. achieved the goal last year. Poland, one of Europe’s fastest-growing economies, was at 1.99 percent.
The target will be met by eight NATO countries in 2018 and by at least 15 alliance members by 2024, according to Stoltenberg.
The 29-nation alliance is seeking to bolster its abilities to address a range of security threats including Russian meddling in eastern Europe, Islamic terrorism and cyber attacks. NATO is upgrading its command structure for the first time since the end of the Cold War, adding a command center focused on maritime security in the Atlantic and a center responsible for troop movements in Europe.
“NATO doesn’t have the luxury of choosing the security threats we face,” Stoltenberg said. “We must be ready and able to operate decisively across all operational domains -- land, sea, air and cyberspace.”
