German defense minister Ursula von der Leyen said Friday her country intends to meet its NATO commitment to spend at least 2 percent of its GDP on defense, but won’t do it by the 2024 deadline.
“We are committed to the 2 percent goal. We will reach 1.5 percent of defense spending as a portion of GDP in 2024, and afterwards we will be moving towards the 2 percent,” von der Leyen said at the Pentagon as she prepared to meet with acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.
Germany, which has the strongest economy in Europe, has seen its GDP rise steadily over the past five years; it is now almost $4 trillion as measured in U.S. dollars. Under the 2 percent formula, Germany would need to spend $80 billion on defense, more than any other NATO country excluding the United States. It now spends 1.2 percent of GDP on its military, about $50 billion, behind the United Kingdom ($61 billion) and France ($51 billion), according to NATO figures.
Germany has been a constant object of President Trump’s ire because he believes the rich nation is taking advantage of America, both at NATO and in trade.
“I mean, Germany honestly is not paying their fair share,” he complained during a media session with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg last week. “They’re not paying what they should be paying, they’re paying close to 1% and they’re supposed to be paying 2%, and the United States over the years got to a point where it’s paid 4.3%, which is very unfair.”
Von der Leyen pointed out that Germany has had six years of rising defense budgets and is the second-largest troop contributor to NATO. But she did concede Trump’s point.
“I think we know that Germany has to do more,” she said. “We know there needs to be a fair burden commitment and capabilities in our missions and activities.”
