US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker has repeatedly demanded that European member states shell out 5% of their GDP on defense, as opposed to the military bloc’s previous target of 2%, according to the outlet, citing “confidential reports” from German officials in Brussels. Whitaker reportedly warned that failure to meet the new benchmark could result in Trump declining to attend NATO’s summit in The Hague scheduled for late June.

Der Spiegel noted that during a phone call with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius last month, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth “conveyed the administration’s intent for European allies to assume primary responsibility for Europe’s conventional defenses,” and urged his counterpart to “actualize defense spending increases,” as reported in a readout published by the Pentagon.

In an interview with The Free Press last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the current arrangement within the military bloc as the US and a “bunch of junior partners that aren’t doing their fair share.”

Hegseth has echoed the sentiment, proclaiming that the “time of the United States… being the sole guarantor of European security has passed. It’s long overdue Europe has to step up, fund its military, and lead.” He similarly stated that NATO’s current 2% defense spending target is insufficient.

Last month, Trump said he would not rule out withdrawing some or all of the 84,000 US troops currently stationed in Europe since Washington foots the bill for the continent’s security, while not getting “reimbursed by much.”

As of 2024, 23 of the 32 NATO member countries had reached the 2% benchmark set in 2014, according to the bloc’s own estimates cited by the BBC. The US currently spends around 3.5% of its GDP on defense and is NATO’s biggest overall contributor.