It’s Long Overdue for NATO Allies to Hit That 2 Percent Threshold

By Jim Geraghty

Thursday, February 15, 2024

 

No responsible president or aspiring president should be running around the country telling people he would “encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want” to any country he felt hadn’t made sufficient financial contributions to NATO. Donald Trump might as well wave the green flag at the border between Russia and our NATO allies, instructing what’s left of Putin’s army, “Gentlemen, start your engines.”

 

With that said, it would be helpful if certain NATO allies would stop making Trump’s argument so easy and justifiable by continuing their long-standing habit of skimping on defense spending. The somewhat good news is that NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that he expects that this year, 18 out of the 31 NATO member countries to reach that threshold of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense.

 

That’s better, but still leaves 13 NATO members short — not good enough. What makes these numbers particularly inexcusable is that NATO has an awfully broad definition of “military spending.” Equipment for search-and-rescue operations? That can count as defense spending. Radar systems that can help with civilian air-traffic control? That’s defense spending! Salaries for military personnel and their pension systems counts as military spending! Police forces such as national police forces, gendarmerie, carabinieri, coast guards, etc. can be counted if they are “trained in military tactics, are equipped as a military force, can operate under direct military authority in deployed operations, and can, realistically, be deployed outside national territory in support of a military force.”

 

NATO really bends over backwards to allow member nations to hit that threshold of defense spending, not just requiring the purchases of tanks, jet fighters, ammunition, etc.

 

If it was just Luxembourg spending seven-tenths of 1 percent of GDP on defense, Trump’s complaint would ring hollow. But some of NATO’s bigger and wealthier members fall well short of the threshold. In fiscal 2023, Germany was at 1.57 percent of GDP, Italy was at 1.46 percent, Canada was at 1.38 percent, and Spain was at 1.26 percent.

 

As President Biden would say, “come on, man!” You guys do see that Russian army that just invaded its neighbor and continues to commit a slew of war crimes, right? Eastern Europe sure noticed — that’s why Latvia is spending 2.27 percent, newcomer Finland is spending 2.45 percent, Lithuania is spending 2.54 percent, Estonia is spending 2.73 percent. Oh, and the United States, spending 3.49 percent, is not actually the NATO member with defense spending that is the highest percentage of GDP. That title goes to Poland at 3.9 percent.

 

Then again, the Poles know a thing or two about the threat of an invasion from a maniacal dictator next door.