BRUSSELS — NATO countries should stick to their pledge and spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense, U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said Thursday.
Speaking to journalists at NATO headquarters, Shapps pushed back at U.S. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump’s threat to "encourage" Russia to invade NATO members that have not been meeting the pledge.
But he urged fellow members to "play their part" too.
Thirteen of NATO’s 31 member countries are set to miss the target of reaching 2 percent by the end of 2024.
But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has hailed the fact that a record 18 countries are on course to do so, and stressed the importance of Article 5 of the NATO treaty — which provides that an armed attack on one member will be considered an attack on all.
Commenting on Trump’s threat Thursday, Shapps said: “Everybody agrees with the NATO sec gen. Article 5 is sacrosanct. But the other thing to say at the same time is that it is right that all countries play their part.
“We said we’d do it by 2024. It is 2024,” Shapps said, referring to the 10-year plan to reach 2 percent laid down in a NATO summit in 2014.
NATO countries, Shapps said, have not been spending more on defense because of Trump — but because “a war in Europe demonstrates that this is needed."
U.S. leadership of NATO “is very much in America's interest,” Shapps continued, pushing back against the logic of Trump loyalists on the alliance. “This isn't coughed up because, you know, Europe needs your help, and you're somehow morally obliged."
The U.K. also announced a new plan Thursday to lead a coalition of 14 other European countries, including Turkey, on multinational defense procurement.
The two initiatives, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defence, “aim to increase defense industrial capacity across the Euro-Atlantic area, replenish stockpiles at pace, and continue support to Ukraine.”
The U.S. and Canada are not part of the initiatives, while France — which has been focusing on European Union-led efforts — is a notable inclusion.
Additionally, the U.K. joined — and will co-lead — a coalition of countries supplying Ukraine with advanced drones, vowing to send "thousands" of advanced "first-person view drones" to the embattled nation as it pushes back the Russian invasion.
Thursday's meeting of NATO defense ministers saw countries like the U.K. beef up security commitments to Ukraine and NATO's eastern flank, despite Trump's threats.
Speaking to POLITICO, Canada's Defense Minister Bill Blair said: "All nations have a responsibility to make sure that our frontline of defense is strong."
Ottawa announced on Thursday that they would send new air defense systems worth CAD$227.5 million to Latvia later this year. Canada is the leading force in NATO's presence in Latvia, a country bordering Russia.
Those efforts are part of NATO's plan to prove to U.S. Republicans that non-American allies are doing their part in ensuring transatlantic security in the face of the Russian threat.
In yet another appeal to the U.S. Congress to approve an aid package to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that failure to do so “will be a message to authoritarian leaders, not only Putin, but also to President Xi [Jinping of China], that when they use military force, they get what they want.”
Speaking after the meeting of NATO defense ministers, Stoltenberg told reporters that “what happens in Ukraine today can happen in Taiwan tomorrow."