NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said European allies and Canada are spending even more on defense than had previously been thought. The statement comes days before US President Donald Trump is expected to repeat his demand that other allies boost their budgets, AP said.
European allies and Canada are now projected to increase spending on their national military budgets by around $130 billion between 2016 and 2020, Stoltenberg said on Friday. Previously, the figure had been forecast at “more than $100 billion.”
At the December 3-4 summit in London, Trump is expected to repeat his demands that Washington’s 28 allies at NATO starting spending at least two percent of their GDPs on defense.
Stoltenberg says that Bulgaria has now become one of nine allies meeting this two percent guideline.