Which nations ARE pulling their weight in NATO… and who’s counting on ‘Uncle Sucker’ to guard them? Graphic illustrates who’s spending on army amid fears Trump may pull out of alliance

Donald Trump‘s return to the White House has brought NATO spending back under scrutiny, with Washington’s warning that Europe should be prepared to defend itself from Russian aggression refocusing minds in Brussels.

The United States will ‘no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship’ regarding the war in Ukraine and will not be taken for ‘suckers’, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week as he declared that fellow Nato members should be spending more.

The US is by far the biggest spender on defence overall – forking out a total of $967.7billion, equivalent to 3.38 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

The UK by comparison spends around $81.4billion on defence, equivalent to 2.33 per cent of its GDP, with Sir Keir Starmer‘s government insisting it is on a ‘path’ to increasing this to 2.5 per cent. 

While it beats the majority of its Nato allies on defence in terms of GDP, the US falls behind Poland and Estonia, whose military spending amount to 4.12 per cent and 3.43 per cent of their GDPs, and who each face more immediate threats due to their proximity to Russia’s borders.

Meanwhile, every Nato member has upped their defence spending in terms of GDP in the past decade except for the US – whose military budget has dropped slightly, according to Nato figures. 

The US budget also fails to meet Trump’s own demand for Nato members to spend 5 percent of their GDP on defence. 

While no members currently meet this threshold some are far closer than others, with many – including Spain, Canada, Italy and Portugal – failing to meet the 2 per cent goal set by the alliance more than a decade ago.

Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, NATO members agreed to commit 2 per cent of their GDP to defence spending to help ensure the alliance’s military readiness – a goal only 23 of the bloc’s 32 members managed to achieve by 2024.

As well as their spending on their individual defence varying widely, the share of the overall NATO budget is unequally spilt between each of the 32 member states, with the top ten spenders covering the vast majority of it.

The US and Germany are tied as the top net contributors to the security alliance, covering around 15.9 per cent of the £3.8billion budget for 2025 each. 

The UK is the third biggest contributor, at 11 per cent, which is equivalent to approximately £416.6m. This is followed by France at 10.2 per cent and Italy at 8.5 per cent.

Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro all pay in less than 0.1 per cent to the NATO budget. Each of these countries have a GDP worth less than 0.1 per cent of the US.

It is not the first time that Trump has called for NATO members to dig deeper into their pockets on defence.

In March last year he falsely claimed that the US funds 90 to 100 per cent of the bloc. 

He warned at the time that it would not exist were it not for America and that the US would only defend fellow members if they increased their spending.

Trump stunned European NATO allies and Ukraine last week when he announced he had held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin without consulting with them and would start a peace process. 

Trump has repeatedly called for NATO countries to increase defence spending further to meet five per cent of GDP. 

Responding to demands by Trump for Europe to pay for its own security, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said members committing about two per cent of GDP should go to ‘north of 3 per cent’.

At a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Rutte said Europe had to ‘spend more, spend more, and those not on 2 per cent, get to 2 per cent by this summer, and those on 2 per cent prepare for much, much more. And it will be north of 3 per cent’.

He added: ‘What is behind this is two things. One is the genuine issue that the US has to concentrate on multiple theatres [of conflict].

‘The other is the continuous debate the US is having with European allies. They [the US] are right, they have every right to be extremely irritated about spending.

‘It might mean increased taxation but, hey, guess what, it is the same for the US.

‘When you spend 3.5 per cent on defence, then you cannot spend it on your pensions or you cannot lower your taxes by that amount.’

French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu has also said that NATO allies needed to think long-term and beef up their defence industries as Washington demands that Europe take security into its own hands.

‘It’s a crucial moment of truth,’ Lecornu told reporters ahead of a NATO meeting in Brussels.

‘People call it the most important, the strongest military alliance in history. That’s historically true – but the question is, will it still be true 10 or 15 years from now.’

Speaking ahead of the talks on Wednesday, Hegseth said that the Ukraine conflict should trigger ‘a factory reset for NATO, a realisation that this alliance needs to be robust and strong and real’.

He echoed Trump’s demands for allies to more than double their defence spending target to five percent of GDP, although seemed to allow for some leeway suggesting growth could be incremental.

‘Two percent of GDP is not enough. Three and four and ultimately, as President Trump has said, five percent of defence spending is critical,’ Hegseth said.

‘There is a Russian war machine that has sought to take more and more land in Ukraine, and standing up against that is an important European responsibility.’

The Pentagon chief added in remarks on Thursday: ‘Make no mistake, President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into ‘Uncle Sucker,” the new Pentagon chief said. 

He reiterated a point Trump has often made – that European allies need to pony up  more cash to support the alliance. 

‘NATO is a great alliance, the most successful defense alliance in history, but to endure for the future our partners must do far more for Europe’s defense. We must make NATO great again,’ Hegseth said.  

He noted that: ‘We can talk all we want about values.’ 

‘Values are important,’ he said. ‘But you can’t shoot values. You can’t shoot flags. And you can’t shoot strong speeches. There is no replacement for hard power.’ 

NATO Chief Rutte will meet with leaders from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and the European Union today to discuss how to deal with Europe’s security quandary.

French officials said no firm decisions are expected to emerge beyond a show of unity of European leaders.

‘There is a wind of unity blowing over Europe, as we perhaps have not felt since the COVID period,’ said French foreign minister Noel Barrot, referring to the pandemic in 2020 when the 27 EU nations had to stand side by side to stave off a health catastrophe.

A strong US link though, will remain essential for the foreseeable future, since it will take many years before European nations can ratchet up defense equipment production and integrate it into an effective force.

‘U.S. support will remain critical and a U.S. security guarantee is essential for a lasting peace, because only the U.S. can deter Putin from attacking again,’ Sir Keir Starmer wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

European nations have signalled that they are determined to support Ukraine where they can, and EU nations see eye to eye when it comes to upping defense spending. 

However, even if there is a general consensus to move beyond the goal of spending 2 per cent of gross domestic product on defense, it is hardly clear how to get to 3 per cent.

Some EU nations are insisting on an agreement on joint borrowing for massive defense projects, while others are insisting it is the task of the nations that lag in spending to get to the 2 per cent threshold first. That issue is also set to be discussed at the meeting.