NATO general secretary Mark Rute appreciated the efforts of President Donald Trump to push NATO colleagues to increase defense spending, amidst efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump has long advocated for NATO colleagues to increase defense spending between 2% and 5% of his GDP – and made it clear that European countries need to have maximum responsibility for the protection of their continent.
“You are starting to commit the British Prime Minister and all others for a lot of defense spending,” Roott told reporters at the White House on Thursday. “We are not there. We need to do more, but I really want to work together with you. To make sure that we will have a NATO that is really regenerated under your leadership. And we’re reaching there.”
“When you see Trump 47, what happened in the last few weeks, is actually very shocking,” Rute said.
‘Make NATO Great Again’: Hegseth pushed European colleagues to pursue defense efforts
NATO General Secretary Mark Rute visited the White House on 13 March 2025.
Root’s comments have come as Ursula von Der Leyen, chairman of the European Commission, proposed to the European Union countries on 4 March to spend $ 841 billion to spend defense.
Similarly, the British Prime Minister Kir Stmper vowed up to 2.5% of its gross domestic value to increase its country’s defense spending in February. This is an increase by 2.3% that currently spends the UK, and is an amount of an increase of about $ 17 billion.
Nevertheless, Rute emphasized the need to strengthen defense industrial base in both the US and Europe, and warned that they were falling behind Russia and China in defense production.
By 2023, the US spent 3.3% of its GDP on defense spending, Nonpartison Washington, DC-based Peterson Institute for International Economics, a total of $ 880 billion. More than 50% of NATO funding comes from the US, while other colleagues – such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany – have contributed between 4% and 8% to NATO funding in recent years.
NATO includes over 30 countries and originally formed in 1949 to prevent the spread of the Soviet Union.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed NATO members to increase defense spending in February. (Yaves Harman/Reuters)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also encouraged NATo colleagues to beef during the journey of Brussels in February.
“NATO should also pursue these goals,” Hegseth said. “NATO is a great alliance, the most successful defense alliance in history, but to bear for the future, our partners must do more to protect Europe.”
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Pledge from European and concerned countries to increase defense spending with interaction to end war in Ukraine.
Nations, including the UK and France, have proposed to deploy soldiers to ensure that Ukraine is protected under a peace negotiation from the future Russian aggression.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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