NATO weighs a US demand to massively hike defense spending as some struggle to meet the current goal

By MATTHEW LEE LORNE COOK and SUZAN FRASER ANTALYA Turkey AP NATO foreign ministers on Thursday debated an American demand to massively ramp up defense venture to of gross domestic product over the next seven years as the U S focuses on prevention challenges outside of Europe Related Articles Trump s sanctions on ICC prosecutor have halted tribunal s work people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city hospital says Putin spurns Zelenskyy meeting but lower-level Ukraine-Russia talks are still on Trump says the US and Iran have sort of agreed on the terms for a nuclear deal The present day in History May police kill two students during Jackson State protests At talks in Antalya Turkey NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced that more expenditure and military equipment are needed to deal with the threat posed by Russia and terrorism but also by China which has become the focus of U S concern When it comes to the core defense spending we need to do much much more Rutte narrated reporters He underlined that once the war in Ukraine is over Russia could reconstitute its armed forces within three to five years Secretary of State Marco Rubio underlined that the alliance is only as strong as its weakest link He insisted that the U S funding demand is about spending money on the capabilities that are needed for the threats of the st century The debate on defense spending is heating up ahead of a summit of U S President Donald Trump and his NATO counterparts in the Netherlands on June - It s a high-level gathering that will set the unit for future European protection including that of Ukraine In as Russia s full-scale war on Ukraine entered its second year NATO leaders agreed to spend at least of GDP on national defense budgets So far of the member countries have done so The new spending plan under consideration is for all allies to aim for of GDP on their defense budgets by plus an extra on potentially defense-related things like infrastructure roads bridges airports and seaports While the two figures add up to factoring in infrastructure and cybersecurity would change the basis on which NATO traditionally calculates defense spending The seven-year time frame is also short by the alliance s usual standards NATO foreign ministers pose for a group photo during their informal meeting in Antalya southern Turkey Thursday May AP Photo Khalil Hamra Rutte refused to confirm the numbers under consideration but he acknowledged the importance of including infrastructure in the equation for example to make sure that bridges yes are there for you and me to drive our cars but also if necessary to make sure that the bridge will hold a tank So all these expenditures have to be taken into account But he didn t signal any progress on narrowing the numbers down after the meeting which came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy waited apparently in vain in the Turkish capital Ankara for Russian President President Vladimir to hold face-to-face talks on ending their -year-old war It s laborious to see how multiple members would reach a new goal Belgium Canada Croatia Italy Luxembourg Montenegro Portugal Slovenia and Spain are not even spending yet although Spain does expect to reach that goal in a year past the deadline The U S demand would require funding at an unprecedented scale but Trump has cast doubt over whether the U S would defend allies that spend too little and this remains an incentive to do more even as European allies realize that they must match the threat posed by Russia Europe-wide industry leaders and experts have pointed out challenges the continent must overcome to be a truly self-sufficient military power chiefly its decades-long reliance on the U S as well as its fragmented defense industry There is a lot at stake for us Lithuanian Foreign Minister K stutis Budrys explained He urged his NATO partners to meet the outlay goals faster than the target because we see the tempo and the speed how Russia generates its forces now as we speak British Foreign Secretary David Lammy commented his country should reach by and then by the next U K elections planned for Turkey s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan center talks to British Foreign Secretary David Lammy right next to Germany s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul left as they wait for a group photo during a NATO s informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya southern Turkey Thursday May AP Photo Khalil Hamra It s hugely major that we recommit to Europe s defense and that we step up alongside our U S partners in this challenging geopolitical moment where there are so various precious across the world and particularly in the Indo-Pacific he revealed As an organization NATO plays no direct safety role in Asia and it remains unclear what demands the Trump administration might make of the allies as it turns its attention to China The last NATO defense operation outside the Euro-Atlantic area its -year stay in Afghanistan ended in chaos Appealed after the meeting about whether the next summit communique will underline that still Russia poses the greatest threat to all NATO allies Rutte refused to be drawn We will see what is the best way to play that he declared Question marks also hang over the way the leaders will frame NATO s commitment to Ukraine The war there has dominated current summits with envoys struggling to find language that would further anchor the country to the alliance without truly allowing it to join But this year the United States has taken Ukraine s membership off the table Trump has shown impatience with Zelenskyy and remains unclear whether he will be invited to the meeting in The Hague Cook stated from Brussels and Fraser from Ankara Turkey