The US expects all NATO countries to increase defense spending by 2024

The United States expects all NATO member countries to increase defense spending to 2% of GDP by 2024.  This was announced on Friday by a representative of the high-ranking US administration at a briefing on the participation of White House head Donald Trump in the alliance summit in London on December 3-4.

 "The US president is committed to making NATO stronger, able to overcome threats and future challenges. In this regard, we urge all NATO countries to increase defense spending as part of the decisions of the Wales summit," he said.

 “In 2016, only four NATO members spent on defense 2% of GDP. Now there are nine of such countries,” the briefing leader said. “We expect everyone else to do this by 2024.”

 At the NATO Wales Summit in 2014, all European countries committed themselves to bring their military spending to 2% of GDP over 10 years.  Meanwhile, according to financial statistics published in March in the latest annual report of the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, by 2024, a number of leading European alliance states, in particular the Federal Republic of Germany, did not achieve the required figure.