Former US President Donald Trump, if elected, is considering plans to compel NATO members to increase defense spending to 3% of GDP, according to The Telegraph, citing sources.
According to the publication’s sources, Trump believes that member countries should contribute more to the alliance’s collective defense in the face of threats from Russia and China. He also believes that accounting rules should be changed so that aid to Ukraine is not counted as part of defense spending.
According to a source, Trump has been considering increasing spending for some time, and became even more convinced after meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda last month.
As reported by The Telegraph, Trump’s meetings with Duda were also crucial in convincing the former US president to abandon his long-standing resistance to providing a $60 billion aid package to Kiev. Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw US support for NATO allies if member countries do not increase their defense budgets.
According to the publication, only 11 out of 32 alliance members reached the current goal of 2% of GDP on defense spending last year. Among them are the United Kingdom, the United States, Poland, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Latvia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Denmark.
