European defense heavyweights say meeting Trump’s military spending target won’t be easy

Defense ministers of top European countries discuss military spending and support for Ukraine amid Trump's 5% GDP challenge.

The defence ministers of Europe’s five top military spenders said Monday (January 14, 2025) that they want to continue increasing their investments in defence but described meeting President-elect Donald Trump’s challenge for them to raise spending to 5% of their overall economic output as complicated.

The defence ministers of Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Poland came together near Warsaw for a meeting in a new format that they established after Mr. Trump was re-elected last year. Their first meeting in this format of five NATO members was held in Berlin in late November.

The five are seeking ways to maintain their support for Ukraine as U.S. policy is expected to shift when Mr. Trump takes power. They also discussed how to strengthen Ukraine’s own weapons production capacity.

The German minister, Boris Pistorius, stressed at the start of the meeting that they all support a just peace for Ukraine, one in which Kyiv has a say over its fate. There are concerns in Europe that Mr. Trump could push Ukraine to make unacceptable concessions to Russia.

The defence leaders also addressed questions of military spending after Mr. Trump recently called for NATO allies to increase their spending to 5% of gross domestic product, a level that no NATO member has reached – not even Poland, which is the closest, spending over 4% and expected to approach 5% this year.

Several of the ministers said that focusing on the number as a percentage isn’t enough.

“I just think that a static debate about percentages doesn’t really help us if it doesn’t ultimately lead to the implementation of what NATO has agreed upon together, what the goals must be,” Mr. Pistorius said at a joint press conference. “In my opinion, that’s what matters.”