The NATO alliance is preparing to announce tens of billions of dollars worth of defense contracts on Tuesday at its highly anticipated summit in Ankara, Turkey, this week.Each country is expected to “present clear, concrete, and credible plans to reach” the 5% gross domestic product spending defense minimum requirement, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said during a press conference on Monday previewing the summit. The alliance agreed last year to bump the defense spending minimum requirement from 2% to 5%, though countries have until 2035 to reach the new benchmark.“The NATO summit defense industry forum, which we will host tomorrow, will be the platform where we showcase how we are working with industry to deliver the capabilities that credible deterrence and defense demand,” Rutte said. “We will announce tens of billions in new contracts that will provide the crucial kit we need to deter and defend, and then our industries, from Arkansas to Ankara, combine their strengths and step up supply.”
“The result is not only improved security, this will help grow our economies, spread innovation, and support hundreds of thousands of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic,” he said.Rutte also estimated that the alliance will spend $258 billion on defense in 2025 and 2026, more than in previous years due to the increased defense spending by Europe and Canada that will continue to grow for years to come.Several straggling countries have only just reached the 2% threshold, and they will now be pressured to more than double that in less than a decade to meet the 5% requirement. For allies that do not present a clear plan for increasing their defense spending at the summit, Rutte said, “If one or two still have to be convinced, we have ways to do that.”U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said there will be a “report card” to see where countries are amid the efforts to get up to 5% defense spending.It’s unclear if the plans will be enough to satisfy President Donald Trump, who has frequently made his ire toward the administration well known, including with remarks suggesting he’s not as committed to the alliance as his predecessors. Over the last couple of months, Trump has exchanged frank words with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over a range of subjects, largely but not exclusively about Europe’s hesitancy to help the United States during its war against Iran.Rutte has gone out of his way to praise Trump as one of the major catalysts driving the push to increase their defense spending.EUROPE PRAYS FOR UNEVENTFUL NATO SUMMIT: ‘NO NEWS IS GREAT NEWS’The Pentagon is also looking to increase production of the American defense industrial base while conducting a force posture review of its long-term troop presence in Europe, which will likely include a reduction. World leaders have dubbed the new goal “NATO 3.0.”The primary objective of “NATO 3.0” is for Europe and Canada to increase their roles in the alliance to make up for reduced U.S. participation, given the U.S. also has international security concerns in other parts of the world.
