NATO urges members to deliver plans for reaching defence spending targets

US warns of consequences for NATO members without clear spending plans, signalling high expectations from allies.NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has demanded that NATO allies put forward “clear, concrete and credible plans” to reach the organisation’s spending targets at its annual summit in Ankara, Turkiye.Rutte was speaking in Ankara on Monday ahead of a two-day summit starting on Tuesday. It comes at a crucial time for the alliance, with the United States scaling down its security role in Europe. Washington has been pressing allies to shoulder more of the spending burden.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Germany’s Merz defends NATO spending after Trump calls it ‘ridiculous’list 2 of 3Turkiye gears up for its first NATO summit in 22 yearslist 3 of 3Russian attacks on Ukraine kill 20 on eve of NATO summit, authorities sayend of listThe 32 NATO nations agreed last year to invest five percent of their gross domestic product on defence – 3.5 percent on their defence budgets and 1.5 percent on roads, bridges and ports so troops and equipment can move faster in times of conflict.Spain endorsed the goal but said that it could fulfil NATO’s security requirements without spending so much. Some countries are still struggling to meet the alliance’s old target of two percent of gross domestic product (GDP).“If one or two of them still have to be convinced, we have ways to do that,” Rutte said, when asked what would happen to allies that don’t have a clear plan. He did not elaborate.US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker suggested last week that the United States does have something in store for those who do not step up, but he declined to say what that might be.“[US] President [Donald] Trump fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to five percent and do it with urgency,” Whitaker said.On spending by European allies and Canada, Rutte said that “the evidence we see so far is impressive”. He said NATO estimates they will invest a combined $258bn more in defence in 2025 and this year than they have in previous years.