U.S. Refuses to Expand NATO as Long as Members Do Not Spend More on Defense
U.S. Presidencial Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell. X/ @EstebanDHR
January 23, 2025 Hour: 8:54 am
On Tuesday, President Trump stated that NATO members should allocate 5% of their GDP to defense.
On Thursday, Richard Grenell, U.S. President Donald Trump’ Envoy for Special Missions, expressed his rejection of an expansion of NATO to include countries like Ukraine, stating that current members of the Alliance are not paying “their fair share” of defense.
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“You’re going to encounter a major uproar in the United States if we have NATO Secretary General (Mark Rutte) talking about adding Ukraine to NATO,” Grenell said via videoconference at a panel during the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Rutte was present alongside European leaders.
“It’s the American citizens who are paying for defense. You can’t ask American citizens to expand NATO’s umbrella when current members are not paying their fair share, and that includes the Dutch, who need to increase (military spending),” he added.
President Trump has consistently insisted on the necessity for NATO members to increase their defense spending. In fact, Trump stated on Tuesday that NATO member countries should allocate 5% of their Gross Domestic Product to defense, raising the current target of 2%.
In 2014, allies committed to spending 2% of their GDP on armed forces by 2024, a figure that 23 out of 32 countries have already reached and which the others plan to achieve soon. However, this commitment is set to be updated at the next NATO summit, which will be held in June in The Hague, marking the first that Trump will attend in his second term.
There is currently no consensus figure, but some allies discuss the appropriateness of setting 3% as a new target, while NATO Secretary Rutte refuses to propose a specific number. Rutte has made it clear that 2% “is not enough” and that, considering the capability needs arising from NATO’s internal planning process, “it will be above 3%.”
Regarding a hypothetical accession of Ukraine to the Alliance, members of the organization agreed at a summit in Bucharest in 2008 that Kyiv would join NATO in the future, although no specific dates were set.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
