The Baltic nations are leading European NATO countries in surpassing the alliance’s goal of spending 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense, but that may not be enough if former President Trump wins another term in November from according to a former administration official.
“The United States is committed to helping NATO countries that are attacked. This is not the same thing as saying we should abandon all our military strength [to the eastern flank],” Elbridge Colby, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Trump administration, told the politician.
Poland currently leads all countries, spending just over 4% of its GDP on defense in 2024, followed by Estonia with 3.43%, the United States with 3.38%, Latvia with 3.15%, Greece with 3.08% and Lithuania with 2.85%.
But Colby, who is expected to be nominated for another top job if Trump is re-elected, said Eastern European countries should spend much more than 2% of their GDP relative to Russia.
“I don’t think it’s very impressive that Lithuania is spending 3%; Estonia spends 3 percent. If I were them, I would spend 10, if they were serious about how threatening the Russians are,” he said. “I think what Europeans need to understand is that they need to reinforce their armed forces as quickly as possible.”
For their part, Baltic defense officials on Tuesday agreed with Colby’s sentiment, to some extent.
“Our voice here is very clear: we say that 2 percent is not enough,” said Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur during a Politico event on defenses against Russia and the war in Ukraine.
“We need to invest more to get more capabilities… We should go to 2.5, maybe even 3 percent.”
Laurynas Kasčiūnas, Lithuania’s minister of national defense, said the Baltic countries are finding ways to strengthen their armed forces by acquiring weapons and equipment from the United States defense industry.
Another Trump presidency “could be a reality. You should work on it,” he said.
By 2024, two-thirds of allies are expected to meet or exceed the target of investing at least 2% of GDP in defense, a big leap compared to the only three that met it in 2014, according to NATO.
By 2024, European NATO allies are expected to invest a combined total of more than $380 billion in defense.
But Trump, who has often criticized NATO as obsolete and threatened to withdraw the United States from the organization, has raised fears of effectively dismantling the 75-year-old alliance.
Officials from the 32 NATO countries traveled to Washington, DC, this week to discuss the future of the alliance, with a possible change of US president in mind.
“We don’t need to be afraid that there will be a new president of the United States or [if] the Biden administration will continue,” Pevkur said. “As Europeans, we have to remember that we are all members of the club and we have to work with any administration.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
