Europe and Canada increased defense spending by 20% in 2024, NATO says
PHOTO CAPTION: A Canadian service member participates in Exercise CRYSTAL ARROW at Camp Ādaži, Latvia, March 10, 2024. (Canadian Armed Forces Photo by MCpl Genevieve Lapointe)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Defence spending by NATO's European members and Canada rose by 20% in 2024, compared to the previous year, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Friday.
NATO members are facing renewed pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to ramp up their defence spending, which he frequently demanded during his first term in office.
Many members have been anxious to show that they have taken his message on board and have already increased military spending, particularly since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
NATO said the 20% boost by the alliance's non-U.S. members took their total defence spending to more than $485 billion.
"I'm looking forward to hosting defence ministers at NATO next week where we'll talk about investing more and better in defence," Rutte said in response to a Reuters request to NATO for the latest spending figures.
"We've crunched the numbers. They're going up. In fact, spending by Europe and Canada is up 20% in 2024, bringing the total additional investment in recent years from $640 to $700 billion."
NATO said it could not make further figures available for the moment. But it is expected to release more at next Wednesday's meeting of alliance defence ministers, which will include a debut for Trump's Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth.
(Reporting by Andrew Gray; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
