NATO leaders — including Canada — have approved a plan to dramatically increase defence spending across the Western alliance to five per cent of the gross domestic product over the next decade, a decision that has given U.S. President Donald Trump a significant policy victory.
They gathered behind closed doors in the Netherlands on Wednesday, where the final details and potential grievances were hashed out.
Members of the alliance, however, were expecting something in return — a fervent commitment from Trump on NATO’s self-defence clause, Article 5.
Senior Canadian officials, speaking on background following the meeting, said the allies seemed comfortable with the U.S. president’s reassurances, despite his equivocating in public about whether Washington would come to the defence of its allies in a crisis.
On his way to the summit, Trump was asked whether he supported Article 5, and he responded that the self-defence clause has many definitions. In fact, the language is quite clear — saying an attack on one member is considered an attack on all NATO allies.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte opened the shortened summit by praising Trump for leading the charge on increased defence spending.
“For too long, one ally, the United States, carried too much of the burden of that commitment — and that changes today,” Rutte said. “President Trump, dear Donald, you made this change possible. Your leadership on this has already produced one trillion dollars in extra spending from European allies since 2016. And the decisions today will produce trillions more for our common defense.”
The move to five per cent of gross domestic product, 3.5 percent for core military spending and 1.5 for defence related infrastructure, will take place over the next 10 years.
That is a compromise for allies — including Canada — who are finding such a big increase hard to swallow.
Prime MInister Mark Carney revealed on Monday during an interview with CNN that meeting the new defence spending goal of five per cent of GDP would cost the federal treasury $150 billion per year.
More to come.
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