Ankara [Turkiye], July 8: European NATO members and Canada are set to spend record amounts on defence in 2026, according to new figures published at the start of the alliance's summit in Ankara on Tuesday, a sign that US President Donald Trump's demands for other allies to step up are hitting home.
Excluding the US, defence spending by European allies and Canada is projected to rise nearly 11% to $634 billion in 2026.
Trump accuses the rest of the alliance of relying too heavily on the massive US defence budget, calling on the Europeans to take the lead for the continent's security.
At last year's NATO summit, allies committed to drastically increase their defence budgets from 2% to 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035, with an additional 1.5% of GDP earmarked for defence-related expenditure, after persistent pressure from the US.
Reflecting the fact that Trump's calls are being taken seriously across the Atlantic, as well as a race to rearm sparked by the war in Ukraine, European allies and Canada expect to spend 2.53% of GDP on core defence expenditure and 1.4% on related expenses in 2026, totalling 3.93%.
This compares to 1.62% of GDP spent on core defence back in 2021, the year before Russia invaded Ukraine.
German core defence spending is set to account for around 2.69% of GDP in 2026, according to the report, up from 2.22% in 2025.
Still, despite the hike in defence spending, the US is the ally that far and away spends the most on its military.
In an attempt to improve cooperation between NATO allies and industry, this year's summit opened with a defence industry fair where NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced new purchases "worth tens of billions of dollars and growing." The pledges included a push to spend $40 billion on NATO's drone defence capabilities over the next five years and to train more soldiers as drone operators.
Source: Qatar Tribune
