Is NATO's 5% Pledge About Trump?

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00:00So, Gemma, we just heard from Mark Rutter there, 5% defence increase. That's a lot.

00:06Ambitious is right.

00:07Very ambitious. And really, I feel like it's come from President Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth.

00:12I think the world is probably in agreement with that. Have all NATO allies now agreed to this substantial rise?

00:20It is substantial. You're right that this was driven by Trump and Hegseth.

00:24But obviously, Rutter is friends with Trump, so he was fully backing it as well.

00:31So, all members have, but they also haven't. It's a bit of a complex issue.

00:37So, all 32 members have agreed on this.

00:40But Spain has asked for a change in wording so that if they don't meet the goal,

00:49that there's no kind of... There aren't any repercussions anyway.

00:51This isn't legally binding.

00:53You know, if people don't meet the percentage, it's not like they get kicked out of NATO or anything like that.

00:59So, what's interesting to know is that there are some members who still haven't reached the 2% GDP.

01:05Now, that goal was set a decade ago.

01:08So, to set a goal of 5% by 2035 is incredibly ambitious.

01:14The UK also looks like it's not going to achieve that goal.

01:18They're still not at 3%.

01:20So, it's a huge reach, for sure.

01:24I wonder if a lot of the members did it through gritted teeth, but also to keep Trump on side,

01:32to keep him sweet, to keep him happy.

01:34And it has made him happy, because over the years, he has expressed a lot of discontent with NATO.

01:41In his first term, he told them all that they owed America so much money.

01:46And he was quite sort of angry, because he told the Europeans,

01:50you only, you know, you provide 30% of NATO funding.

01:54So, you know, from his point of view, he feels they're not pulling their weight financially.

01:59Really?