President Biden on Monday hailed as good news the announcement that 23 countries in the 32-member NATO alliance are on track to spend 2% of their GDP on military defense this year, a key benchmark set in 2014.
“We have a very important announcement to make today: a record number of allies are fulfilling NATO’s commitment to at least 2% of their GDP in defense,” Biden said in statements at the White House, before a meeting with the secretary- NATO general, Jens. Stoltenberg.
Stoltenberg said the alliance’s 23 members will spend at least two percent of their GDP on defense by 2024. NATO allies agreed at the 2014 summit in Wales that member states would increase their respective domestic defense spending to two per cent. percent of its GDP.
“Just five years ago, there were still fewer than 10 Allies who spent 2% of GDP on defense,” he said in remarks delivered Monday at the Wilson center.
“This is good for Europe and good for America. Especially since much of this extra money is spent here in the United States,” Stoltenberg continued, as part of a proposal to bolster American support for NATO which is under attack from former President Trump.
Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO allies for not spending more on defense. The presumptive Republican nominee has been a vocal critic of the NATO alliance and has threatened to withdraw the US from the alliance, or delay American defense commitments for all members that have not yet increased their defense spending to reach the two percent mark. .
Biden said on Monday that the number of alliance countries that have reached the 2% spending mark has “more than doubled” since January 2021.
The statistic constitutes a key argument for Biden’s re-election campaign around his leadership in NATO and his support for the military-defensive alliance.
Trump supporters say his antagonistic rhetoric has encouraged allies to increase their defense spending. But critics of the former president say his threats against the alliance undermine confidence in U.S. commitments.
Biden will host NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington in July. The summit is intended to serve as a celebration of the alliance’s history, but it will also serve as a crucial meeting to demonstrate Ukraine’s support and resolve in its war against Russia and ahead of an uncertain American election.
Allies fear that a potential re-election of Trump would cause the US to retreat from its participation in NATO, threaten its unity or push Ukraine into a ceasefire with Russia on terms more preferable to those of Moscow.
At the summit, NATO allies are expected to announce a series of initiatives to institutionalize the alliance’s support for Ukraine and serve to assume the leadership role currently played by the US. This includes NATO taking the lead in organizing the acquisition and delivery of weapons to Ukraine, currently led by the US; and a long-term financial commitment.
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