North American and European leaders agree on 5% defence spending target

Nato’s 32 members have pledged to meet Donald Trump’s demand to increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP to secure protection from the US, promising “annual plans showing a credible, incremental path” to the goal.

In a joint statement released during a summit of the alliance in The Hague on Wednesday, the allies also said they “reaffirm our ironclad commitment to collective defence”.

A review of the spending goal would take place in 2029, the communiqué said.

Officials told the FT that the text agreed by the leaders was kept at just five paragraphs long, in line with Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte’s strategy of keeping the meeting short, focused and as uncomplicated as possible to avoid losing Trump’s attention.

By contrast, the last two Nato summit communiqués, from Washington and Vilnius, were 44 and 90 paragraphs long, respectively.

“Allies commit to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence-and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations,” the statement said.

The text was intended as a response to Trump’s long-held irritation over what he has said is over-reliance by European allies on US defence spending.

In response to Trump’s assertion last week that the new 5 per cent defence spending pledge would not apply to Washington, Rutte said the US is “more or less there” already.

When asked during the summit to clarify his stance on Article 5, Nato’s mutual defence pact, Trump said: “That’s why I’m here,” adding that if he didn’t stand with the alliance, “I wouldn’t be here.”

The statement contained just one reference to Russia, citing the “long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security” and one sentence referencing “enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine”.

Trump is sceptical about treating Russia as an adversary and has been lukewarm in his backing of Ukraine.

The communiqué featured the wording “allies agree” to the spending promise, rather than the “we agree” that was in previous drafts and was vetoed by Spain.

Madrid had argued it could deliver the required military capabilities demanded by Nato by spending less than 5 per cent of GDP.