WASHINGTON — America’s allies in Asia should follow Europe and spend 5% of gross domestic product on defense, a Pentagon spokesperson said Friday.
This marks the first time in President Donald Trump’s second term that the administration has laid out a regionwide target for the Asia-Pacific region, and comes weeks after NATO Secret-General Mark Rutte said that the Euro-Atlantic allies will likely agree to a broad defense spending target of 5%, of which 3.5% is for milit procurement and 1.5% on related infrastructure, during the NATO summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, next week.
