As allies work toward a 5% of GDP defense spending target by 2035, officials say the challenge is converting new budgets into weapons, industrial output and stronger European forces.
NATO’s challenge has moved beyond persuading European members to spend more on defense and toward turning tens of billions of new dollars into usable military capability. Ahead of a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said strains over the Trump administration’s push for higher spending are “growing pains,” while describing a long-term direction in which Europe assumes primary responsibility for the continent’s conventional defense and the United States remains involved but does less. Allies agreed at last year’s NATO Summit in The Hague to target defense spending of 5% of GDP by 2035, including 3.5% for core defense spending, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said the task now is “to turn Allied commitments into concrete results.”