Latvia won’t seek to up defense spending to 4% of GDP as mulled by Trump – PM

Latvia is not going to follow US President Donald Trump’s call to NATO allies to increase their defense spending to four percent of GDP instead of two, Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis told local LNT TV on Thursday. He said that Trump’s claims of insufficient investment in defense are irrelevant and Riga does not consider the increase necessary. Kucinskis also stressed that Latvia is one of the countries spending two percent of its GDP on defense. Earlier, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said more investment is needed to strengthen NATO and EU capabilities.