NATO military analysts believe that European members will have to allocate 4.5% of GDP to defense in the event of an isolationist approach by the United States after the coming to power of the newly elected President Donald Trump. This was reported by the columnist of the British newspaperFinancial Times (FT) Gideon Rahman.
According to him, if the United States maintains its commitment to NATO, defense spending of European countries should still increase to 3% of GDP from the current 2% due to the strengthening of the Russian armed forces. The columnist noted that even this goal would be a difficult task for most countries.
The United Kingdom currently spends about 2.3% of GDP on defense. Rahman pointed out that the other largest countries in Europe, Germany and France, had difficulty allocating 2% of GDP to military needs last year. The columnist added that it would be problematic for London and Paris to sharply increase defense spending due to high levels of public debt, exceeding 100% of GDP. At the same time, Germany, in his opinion, on the contrary, has great industrial potential with a low level of public debt (just over 60% of GDP).
Rahman stressed that the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the candidate for German chancellor Friedrich Merz, who is considered the favorite in the upcoming parliamentary elections, “takes the threat from Russia seriously“. and "could make a historic transition" Berlin will increase military spending. According to the columnist, such a step would lead to increased security in Europe.