Trump expects Nato allies to honour defence spending pledges, White House says
Donald Trump expects Britain and other NATO allies to honor their defense spending commitments, the White House has said, amid ongoing debate over Britain’s future military funding.
The US president’s request comes as Sir Keir Starmer prepares to unveil a long-delayed investment plan for the armed forces; This strategy was plagued by internal government infighting and ministerial resignations.
The outgoing Prime Minister insisted the plan would keep Britain “safe and secure long into the future”, while recently quitting defense secretary John Healey warned that the proposed military financial deal “falls far short of what is needed for defense and the country at this perilous time”.
The row erupted ahead of a major NATO summit in Ankara next week, where members are expected to determine a “credible path” to spending 5 percent of economic output on defense by 2035.
This is broken down into a core defense spending commitment of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and a broader resilience spending commitment of 1.5 percent.
But in his resignation letter, Mr Healey claimed the UK was on track to spend just 2.68 per cent of GDP on core defense by 2030, casting doubt on the country’s ability to meet the 3.5 per cent target within the required time frame.
A White House official said: “President Trump expects NATO allies to honor their 5% defense spending commitments.”
New Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis is understood to have secured some extra money for the military, bringing the total allocation to around £14.5bn; That was an increase from the £13.5bn offered to Mr Healey, but it fell short of the £28bn officials had previously said was needed.
The funding dispute comes at a critical time when Mr Trump has cast doubt on the US’s commitment to NATO, branding it a “paper tiger”.
The US president argues that America is funding the defense of other countries, with tensions rising over alliance member Denmark’s designs on Greenland and the response of allies including Britain to the Iran war.
Earlier this month, US defense secretary Pete Hegseth announced a review of American military forces in Europe, casting doubt on the ability of some members to meet their spending commitments and suggesting they still “think the age of free riding has arrived.”
Under Mr Jarvis’s “refocused” defense investment plan (Dip), the UK’s use of drones and autonomous weapons will be funded and boosted by a £5bn cash injection in response to lessons learned from the Ukraine and Iran conflicts.
Reflecting this shift, plans for a new fleet of next-generation destroyers have been abandoned and replaced with “hybrid” ships that would act as command centers for drones.
