EXPOSED: EU’s $650bn UNDERSPEND on defence that has bloc leaders dreading hawkish Trump’s return

EU defence spending

Facts4EU

It comes after incoming President Donald Trump demanded NATO members dramatically increase their defence spending last week.

Trump wants members of the Alliance to spend five per cent of GDP on defence, a near tripling of the current two per cent target which many don’t hit.

Germany, the EU’s largest economy, spends 1.64 per cent of GDP on defence, for example, though that figure is set to rise to 2.1 per cent next year.

At the other end of the spectrum, Britain has the best track record on defence spending and has surpassed its NATO targets over the same period by +$60billion.

The UK's record on defence spending is far better than the EU's

Facts4eu

So too was Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard who said: “US governments have long urged European countries to increase their defence spending and to bear more of their own defence costs. We share this view.”

In his first term from 2017-2021, Trump regularly attacked NATO member’s poor spending, at one point calling for NATO members to ‘reimburse’ the US for the defence deterrent it had paid for.

Trump tweeted in 2018: “Many countries in NATO, which we are expected to defend, are not only short of their current commitment of 2% (which is low), but are also delinquent for many years in payments that have not been made. Will they reimburse the U.S.?”

As Facts4EU and GB News analysis reveals, this ‘delinquency’ debt now stands at $650billion, over half a trillion dollars.

Add into the mix the fact Mark Rutte, the ex-Dutch PM and ardent EU fan, is now NATO Secretary General and it is easy to see how Trump’s relations with NATO may be tested over coming weeks.

The US spent 3.4 per cent of GDP on defence last year.