June 22 (UPI) — Britain and its NATO allies will increase defense spending by at much as 5% of GDP in the next decade, officials have announced.
The alliance’s 32 member states agreed to the plan in advance of a heads of nations summit this week in The Hague. The meeting is scheduled to take place Tuesday and Wednesday, where the new spending increase is expected to be approved.
This is a boost from 2% of defense spending, and seen as a play to appease the Trump administration in addition to addressing a growing military threat from Russia and China.
The hike to 5% of GDP spending would bring NATO back to defense spending not seen since the Cold War. By comparison, Britain has said it has plans to increase that nation’s defense spending by closer to 3% by 2034, which would be a boost of .7%.
Britain was hesitant about the 5% agreed to be NATO and pushed for the timeline to 2035, which would move the increase beyond the next Parliament.
Spain was the last country to sign on to the NATO deal.
NATO secretary Mark Rutte was largely seen as the driving force behind the spending hike, and said the actual defense spending would amount to 3.5% of GDP and that the other 1.5% could be used for cyber security and other infrastructure.
