This week NATO will mark its first 76 years at its summit in The Hague. All eyes will be on Donald Trump and his robust “America First” approach on the world stage, which has already involved the use of decisive military force against Iran’s nuclear facilities. The U.S. president has been a firm critic of NATO, but has also been responsible for a dramatic revival of the alliance.
Trump has made it clear that NATO’s survival depends on America’s fellow members stepping up to fully participate in burden sharing with the U.S. The Russians have clearly viewed NATO as weak and divided and are increasingly willing to test its resolve. The U.S. presidency must apply concerted pressure on America’s allies to do far more to foster partnership rather than dependency, especially as the United States must increasingly focus on the immense threat in the Indo-Pacific presented by Communist China.
In 2024, only 22 NATO members spent the 2 per cent of GDP on defense agreed to by the alliance in 2014. This is unacceptable. It leaves the alliance dangerously vulnerable when it should be projecting strength and resolve. Countries that spent less than 2 per cent of real GDP on defense last year included Italy (1.5 per cent), Canada (1.4 per cent), Spain (1.3 per cent), and Belgium (1.3 per cent). In contrast, Poland (4.1 per cent), Estonia (3.4 per cent), Latvia (3.2 per cent), and Greece (3.1 per cent) all spent above 3 per cent of GDP.
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Justin Trudeau’s now departed Canadian government was among the very worst NATO slackers, consistently underinvesting in Canada’s military with shockingly low figures for a nation with the 10th largest GDP in the world. His successor as prime minister, Mark Carney, has vowed to raise Canadian defense spending to 2 per cent, but this is simply not enough. Ottawa needs to be serious about NATO’s mission, and playing a full part in the alliance in the coming decades.
As Heritage Foundation research has shown, “European NATO members have collectively underfunded their own defense by $827.91 billion since 2014—nearly equal to the entire annual U.S. defense budget.” This is a staggering figure—a damning indictment of a culture of complacency and dependency in many NATO allies over the past decade.
Not only should every NATO member immediately invest the minimum agreed level of spending on their own defense, they should also commit to matching the current U.S. level of 3.5 per cent of GDP, and pledge to reach 5 per cent of GDP, which is expected to be the new benchmark set at the forthcoming NATO summit according to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
President Trump’s pressure on NATO partners to spend more on defense is already having a major impact. After decades of reckless underinvestment, Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy and the biggest in Europe, has announced plans for a dramatic increase in defense spending, and has accepted in principle that German spending must eventually rise to 5 per cent of GDP if it is serious about defending its own borders from a potential attack by Russia.
France, which has barely reached the agreed minimum 2 per cent of GDP on defense in recent years, has announced that it will push European defense spending levels to 3-3.5 per cent of GDP ahead of the Hague summit. Even Belgium, one of NATO’s most lackluster members, has declared it will boost defense spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP.
The UK has just announced a $20 billion investment in its nuclear warhead program, and the construction of 12 nuclear-powered attack submarines, as part of its new Strategic Defense Review, released this month.
The Baltic States and Poland are already building on their robust records by pledging significant further increases in the years ahead. Poland will spend 4.7 per cent of GDP on defense this year, while Estonia has committed to spending 5.4 per cent through until 2029. Lithuania will spend 5-6 per cent on defense from 2026 to 2030, and Latvia will spend 5 per cent by 2026.
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The positive developments in Europe should be warmly welcomed in Washington. In just the first few months of his presidency, Donald Trump has already significantly strengthened NATO. President Trump is not the alliance’s destroyer, as his critics have alleged, but is in fact its savior.
Previous U.S. presidents had urged European allies to do more, but their entreaties fell on deaf ears. It took the no-nonsense straight talk of Donald Trump to make European leaders sit up and take notice.
In many ways the Trump presidency has been the antithesis of the weak-kneed Biden presidency. The humiliating debacle of Biden’s reckless Afghanistan withdrawal would not have happened under Donald Trump, and nor would Russia’s reckless invasion of Ukraine.
With bold U.S. leadership at the helm, NATO still has the vision, capacity and energy to thrive and prosper for another 76 years.
American exceptionalism is the most powerful force for liberty in the world today. It is greatly strengthened by America’s alliances with key partners, and NATO is at the very heart of the transatlantic partnership.
