NATO Boss Pushes Europe to Boost Defense Spending as US Shifts

NATO's top boss, Mark Rutte, has been urging European countries to step up their defense spending. This comes as Donald Trump is set to return to the White House. Trump had previously criticized NATO allies for not spending enough on defense, which hurt trust among the allies. Back in 2014, after Russia took over Crimea, NATO leaders agreed to stop cutting defense budgets and aim for each country to spend 2% of their GDP on military budgets. Now, they think that 2% might not be enough to keep the deterrence strong. While on average, allies meet this target, about a third of them still don't. Rutte wants to make sure NATO can defend itself in the future. He thinks that countries might need to spend up to 3% of their GDP to make the new security plans work. These plans include having 300, 000 troops ready to move to the eastern border in just 30 days if needed. The U. K. 's foreign secretary, David Lammy, agrees that now is the time to take action. He pointed out that Russia is causing trouble in many places, including Ukraine. He wants all NATO allies to get serious about defense spending. The U. S. , which is the most powerful member of NATO, also thinks that now is the time for allies to step up. Antony Blinken, the U. S. Secretary of State, said that a stronger NATO means better abilities to stop aggression and handle complex challenges. Rutte also wants to boost Europe's defense industry. He thinks that companies should produce more and hire more workers to keep up with the demand for weapons, as the support for Ukraine has used up a lot of stock.