NATO said on Wednesday that Europe had increased its spending on defence and the United States needed allies, days after former U.S. president Donald Trump suggested that Washington might not protect countries that did not spend enough.
"I expect 18 allies to spend two per cent of their GDP on defence this year," Jens Stoltenberg said at a media conference in Brussels, adding overall military spending was set for another record year after two years of Russia's full-fledged war against Ukraine.
The number was higher than last year, when 11 of NATO's 31 members were expected to reach the agreed target.
Trump shocked Europeans on Saturday by implying that he would encourage Russia "to do whatever the hell they want" to NATO allies who did not spend enough on defence.
Addressing journalists' questions linked to the controversy around Trump's comments ahead of a NATO ministers' meeting, Stoltenberg said the U.S. knew how important the defence alliance is for its own security.
"The United States have never fought a war alone," he said.
"The criticism we hear is not about NATO, it is about NATO allies not spending enough on NATO," he added, saying the new hike in military spending by European allies was proof this message had been heard.
NATO's European states would invest a combined total of $380 billion US in defence this year, Stoltenberg added.
Canada well below the target
In a historic first since the end of the Cold War, Berlin will meet the two per cent target this year for the first time.
The German government is allocating the equivalent of 71.8 billion euros ($104 billion Cdn) for defence spending in the current year through regular and special budget outlays. However, the sum of its total defence spending is classified.
In 2023, 11 alliance members are expected to have met the two per cent target according to prior NATO estimates —Poland, the United States, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, Britain and Slovakia.
Kurt Volker, former U.S. ambassador to NATO under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, told CBC News on Tuesday that the war in Ukraine and Russia's mobilization of troops near the borders of other neighbours should galvanize the alliance.
"Regardless of whether it's Trump or [Joe] Biden or someone else, all European states, all members of NATO, really need to be beefing up defence spending," said Volker. "Poland has done this, Poland is spending four per cent of GDP on defence this year. Others need to do this as well because we we are in a very serious security situation in Europe now."
Sweden, which is looking to join the alliance but has yet to gain Hungary's approval, last September announced plans to boost its planned defence budget for 2024, taking it to an expected 2.1 per cent of its GDP.
Canada's military spending has been estimated at between 1.3 and 1.4 per cent of GDP.
Defence Minister Bill Blair did not specifically address Canada's military spending in brief comments to reporters on Tuesday, but appeared to downplay Trump's weekend comments.
"There is a political election and debate going on in another country, we're going to hear rhetorical statements," said Blair. "The best deterrent to a bully is strength and we're investing in that strength."
Not 'delinquent'
Although Trump has characterized countries under the benchmark as being "delinquent," the two per cent guidance refers to an individual country's defence commitment, not their contribution to a joint NATO defence fund.
As well, some analysts have said the flat metric can provide an incomplete picture of a country's military status, and its research and development and other capabilities.
"Spending at two per cent says very little about a country's actual military capabilities; its readiness, deployability, and
sustainability levels; and the quality of the force that it can field," the think-tank Carnegie Europe said in a 2015 report. "It also is mum about a country's willingness to deploy forces and take risks once those forces are deployed. It does not assess whether a country spends its limited resources wisely."
While the issue has become a pet peeve for Trump, his U.S. predecessors Barack Obama and George W. Bush also urged alliance members to bolster their domestic defence spending.
