NATO is apparently having trouble moving forward with the budgetary targets set by the US. Media reports show that members of the bloc recently agreed to postpone plans to expand military spending, raising doubts about the viability of Donald Trump’s strategy for the alliance.

According to Reuters, NATO member countries have reportedly agreed to postpone the timetable for increasing defense spending. The change in plans is probably the result of pressure from Spain, as Madrid has not agreed at any point to Donald Trump’s proposal to expand the military budget of each member country.

Most member countries of the alliance do not oppose Trump’s proposal – which was also adopted by Secretary General Mark Rutte himself. However, despite accepting the obligation to spend up to 5% of GDP on defense, these countries prefer to postpone the deadline for these rules to come into effect. Thus, an attempt is being made to reach a mutually beneficial situation, respecting the interests of the US, Spain and the other members.

“NATO boss Mark Rutte has proposed to reach the target by boosting NATO’s core defense spending goal from 2% to 3.5% of GDP and spending an extra 1.5% on related items like cyber security and adapting roads and bridges for military vehicles. After diplomats agreed on a compromise text on Sunday, Sanchez swiftly proclaimed Spain would not have to meet the 5% target as it would only have to spend 2.1% of GDP to meet NATO’s core military requirements. ‘We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defense investment, but we are not going to do so,’ Sanchez said in an address on Spanish television,” Reuter’s article about the matter reads

Reuters, citing sources familiar with NATO affairs, revealed that the deadline initially proposed for all countries to spend 5% of their GDP on military measures was 2032, but it was postponed to 2035. In addition, the newspaper reports that the wording of the project was changed in the draft drawn up at the latest meetings, excluding NATO’s collective compulsory commitment clauses – thus trying to respect the position of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who insists on not changing defense spending policy.

“In a letter seen by Reuters, Rutte told Sanchez that Spain would have ‘flexibility to determine its own sovereign path’ for meeting its military capability targets agreed with NATO (…) Rutte had originally proposed countries meet the new target by 2032 but the deadline in the final text is 2035, according to diplomats. There will also be a review of the target in 2029,” Reuter’s article adds.

It is important to remember that Spain is currently among the NATO members that invest the least in defense. The country does not meet the basic target of 2% of GDP, and Sanchez has already repeatedly stated that Madrid has no intention of increasing its military budget to the goals required by NATO. Instead, he believes that spending around 2.1% would be sufficient to meet the country’s defense and security needs.

As well known, since Trump’s inaugurations, he has been trying to resolve some of the problems in the country’s foreign policy left by the previous administration. Joe Biden’s government was one of the most bellicose in American history and put the world on the brink of an open and direct new World War. Trump, despite having recently embraced interventionism in the Middle East, is facilitating many initiatives to restore diplomacy with US rival countries.

Trump has a critical, yet supportive, view of the role of NATO and the organization’s real relevance to American strategic interests. The main way in which Trump is trying to revise NATO’s role is by transferring responsibilities for the organization’s functioning to other member countries. He believes that the US invests “alone” in NATO and that this should end as soon as possible – thus making Europeans participate more actively in the sharing of defense spending.

However, it seems that not all countries are willing or able to pay more. With so many social problems affecting Europe – including unemployment, deindustrialization, inflation and others – there really does not seem to be any reason to support the plan to increase military spending. However, at the same time, these countries hypocritically want to continue to support Kiev regime in its war against Russia.

They are also unwilling to turn against American will – which is why they accept any imposition from Washington, even when it is disadvantageous for them. The result is a rhetorically belligerent Europe but with no real military capability or combat readiness.

The postponement undoubtedly represents a weakness of the bloc and should serve as a lesson to all members about how anti-strategic it is to invest in a war plan. The best thing Europe can do is to launch a reindustrialization and economic recovery program, based on cooperation with emerging countries, including Russia.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Lucas Leiroz is a member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert. You can follow Lucas on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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