NATO member countries to commit to spending 3.5% of GDP on defense by 2032: report

NATO member countries are reportedly going to commit to spending 3.5% of GDP on defense by 2032 during a summit in The Hague later this month.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that he had an “ambition” to reach 3% by the end of the next parliament but didn't make a commitment to it, The Telegraph reported.

At the NATO summit later in June, NATO member countries will commit to a new target of spending 3.5% of GDP on defense and an additional 1.5% on defense-related infrastructure by 2032.

Starmer's current target commitment is 2.5%, and increasing it to 3.5% would cost the UK around 30 billion pounds a year.

UK Defense Secretary John Healey on Tuesday didn't rule out tax increases to pay for the additional defense spending.

Healey said that ministers would “set out how we will pay for future increases in the future.”

The new 3.5% target, called The Hague Investment Commitment, is NATO's first increase since 2014, when member countries agreed to a goal of 2%.

"I'm not going to get into the discussions that are ongoing, in the usual way, ahead of (the) NATO (summit)," the prime minister's official spokesman said.

"The UK is already the third-highest spender in NATO in cash terms behind the United States and Germany, we are one of 22 allies of the 32 in NATO that already exceed the 2% of GDP NATO target."