Hugh Cameron is the Newsweek Live News reporter in London, in the United Kingdom, its purpose is to inform foreign policy, conflicts and crime. Hugh joined Newsweek in 2024, after running in Alliance News Ltd, where he specialized in the Global and Regional Advertising Development Policy, Economic News and Market Trends. He graduated from the University of Warwick with a baccalaureate in politics in 2022 and the University of Cambridge with a mastery in foreign relations in 2023. Languages: English. You can touch Hugh by sending an email to h. cameron@newsweek. com

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

If applied to the U.S., Donald Trump’s call for NATO members to boost defense spending could require America to allocate an extra $500 billion each year.

The calculation, made by Russian-born American author and military historian Max Boot, in response to the president-elect’s recent demand for the alliance to raise its current spending target for each of its members from 2 to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

When contacted for comment, the Trump transition team referred Newsweek back to the remarks made by the president-elect during the Tuesday press conference.

In addition to his latest demand—reports of which first surfaced last month—Trump has repeatedly urged NATO members to contribute more toward defense, contending that the United States has footed the bill for European security for far too long, even threatening to withdraw the U.S. from the alliance over this dispute. Other calls for members to increase defense spending have gradually grown since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In November, NATO general secretary Mark Rutte said that the alliance exceeds its existing 2 % objective agreed through the Member States in 2014, describing it as “simply not enough” given the threats raised through Russia to the continent, as well as those that are raised through China, North Korea and Iran.

At a South Carolina crusade rally in February, Trump recounted how he told the president of a NATO member state that if they failed to increase their defense spending, the U. S. would not and would inspire Russia “to do whatever they want. “

“They can everything,” Trump told Newshouings at the Press Convention on Tuesday in Mar-A-Lago on Tuesday. “But they deserve to be 5% and not 2%. “

Boot calculated that if the United States exceeds its 5% defense budget, it rises $ 500 billion in additional expenses.

“The United States defense budget is $ 824 billion. ” Will Trump propose this and where will the cash come from? Or is 5% for other countries? “

According to the Atlantic Council in July, NATO’s top states have the highest defense spending since Russia’s invasion, with 23 of the alliance’s 32 members recently reaching the threshold of 2. As a result, NATO in June said that collective investment in defense had a higher of 1. 43 from 1. 43 GDP in 2014 to 2. 02 in 2024. Advice in Pentagon projections, the United States will have spent 2. 7% of its GDP on defense spending by 2024.

None of NATO members recently spends 5% of GDP in defense, being the closest to Poland to more than 4%.

In August, Poland’s finance minister said defense spending in the country’s budget in 2025 would be 4. 7% of GDP, amid developing considerations that the country may be run through Russia.

Stuart Dee, a research leader in the Defence and Security group at RAND Europe, noted that even meeting the 2 percent target has been difficult for many NATO countries, whose economic frameworks may not accommodate additional increases.

“The U. S. has long been an outlier and has a much larger underlying trade and trade defense base, which it has seamlessly supported through a holistic technique for defense exports,” Dee told Newsweek. “Even this building in spending in some cases up to 2% or more has been challenging, given the inherent charge of the opportunity to divert investment away from public spending portfolios. “

Ralf Stegner, German politician and member of the German Social Democratic Party, Facebook: “Donald Trump needs to confiscate the Panama Canal and Greenland and demands 5% of GDP for the defense budgets of NATO partners. Fight more actively.

Mark Rutte, general secretary of NATO, at a convention in December: “[Trump] needs to make sure that the United States does not spend too much and that we are not doing enough, and he has everything reasonable. However, he is a success in greedy.

Stuart Dee, research leader and co-director of Rand Rand Europe’s Centre for Defense Economics and Acquisition, told Newsweek, “There is a stronger consensus on the security net than NATO’s 2% defense target, which was largely an arbitrary target based on the end of the end of the Cold War: It’s an unrealistic fit with the evolving foreign security environment. Ensure your own long career in terms of defense;

In December, Rutte said that NATO is “going to need a lot more than 2 percent” to counter threats posed by Russia, even arguing that states should divert spending from domestic programs to this end.

However, allies have pushed for excessive increases in spending targets, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently calling such concepts “half-baked” and wondering where nations will be close to the additional funds.

Do you have a story that we cover? Do you have any questions about this article? Communicate with livenews@newSweek. com.

Hugh Cameron is Newsweek Live News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on international politics, conflict, and crime. Hugh joined Newsweek in 2024, having worked at Alliance News Ltd where he specialised in covering global and regional business developments, economic news, and market trends. He graduated from the University of Warwick with a bachelor’s degree in politics in 2022, and from the University of Cambridge with a master’s degree in international relations in 2023. Languages: English. You can get in touch with Hugh by emailing [email protected]

Hugh Cameron is the Newsweek Live News reporter in London, in the United Kingdom, its purpose is to inform foreign policy, conflicts and crime. Hugh joined Newsweek in 2024, after running in Alliance News Ltd, where he specialized in the Global and Regional Advertising Development Policy, Economic News and Market Trends. He graduated from the University of Warwick with a baccalaureate in politics in 2022 and the University of Cambridge with a mastery in foreign relations in 2023. Languages: English. You can touch Hugh by sending an email to h. cameron@newsweek. com