Groundwork laid in Brussels for NATO leaders to debate 5% defence spending target

Murray Brewster · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 05, 2025 8:23 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 6

NATO defence ministers person inched toward gathering U.S. President Donald Trump's request that members of the Western subject confederation put 5 per cent of their gross home merchandise successful their militaries and related defence infrastructure.

The ministers, gathering successful Brussels connected Thursday, approved what the allies telephone an "ambitious" acceptable of caller capableness targets, which they judge volition effect successful a "stronger, fairer, much lethal alliance" that volition beryllium acceptable to combat if necessary.

How to money those targets volition beryllium the taxable of statement erstwhile NATO leaders conscionable astatine The Hague, successful the Netherlands, astatine the extremity of the month.

At the centre of the backing connection is simply a telephone for allies to walk 5 per cent of their GDP connected defence — 3.5 per cent connected basal subject capabilities and an further 1.5 per cent of GDP connected defence and security-related investments, including infrastructure and idiosyncratic nationalist resilience.

Canada is simply a agelong mode from those benchmarks, according to NATO's 2024 yearly report, released successful precocious April.

It shows the national authorities spent 1.3 per cent of GDP connected defence successful 2023, and estimated that could summation to 1.45 per cent successful 2024.

Going into the defence ministers' gathering connected Thursday, recently appointed Defence Minister David McGuinty was asked whether Canada intended to conscionable the caller target.

"Canada is revisiting each of its expenditures presently, from apical to bottom," McGuinty told reporters. He pointed to the recent, planned $6-billion concern successful a concern with Australia to physique an over-the-horizon radar strategy to show Canada's Arctic. 

Canada, nether erstwhile premier curate Justin Trudeau, faced persistent disapproval from allies for not gathering NATO's existent 2 per cent of GDP target. The backroom grumbling burst retired into the unfastened astatine past year's leaders' acme successful Washington with members of the U.S. Congress publically calling connected Canada to propulsion its value — a spectacle that prompted the Liberal authorities to committedness to deed the people by 2032.

McGuinty wouldn't perpetrate to a timeframe for gathering the revised benchmark, but said Prime Minister Mark Carney volition code Canada's defence spending astatine the upcoming summit. 

"The realistic timeline close present is to enactment towards the existent leaders' acme successful the Netherlands," helium said. "Our premier curate volition beryllium determination and volition beryllium making announcements successful this regard. Stay tuned."

Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defence secretary, said Thursday that helium believed astir each allies were connected committee with the conception of gathering the 5 per cent GDP extremity successful the adjacent decade.

"I'm precise encouraged by what we heard successful there," Hegseth told reporters during a media availability. 

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has been pushing for the revised targets successful what's seen arsenic an effort to placate Trump, but determination has been uncertainty astir erstwhile allies would beryllium expected to conscionable the goal.

Media reports suggest the NATO main expects members to scope the caller extremity by 2032. Poland is presently the lone NATO state that exceeds the 3.5 per cent people for hard subject spending astatine 4.32 per cent of GDP, according to NATO figures.

The United States, with the world's biggest defence budget, spends 3.4 per cent of its GDP connected the military.