NATO's chief says allies are spending more on defense
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NATO's chief says European members and Canada spent a total of almost 5 percent more on defense last year compared to 2016, amid pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to boost military budgets.
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that eight allies are likely to spend the target NATO benchmark of 2 percent of their GDP on defense this year. Five nations were doing so — the U.S., Britain, Estonia, Greece and Poland — but new estimates show Poland has dipped under.
The benchmark concerns how much each country spends on its own defense, not what it pays into NATO.
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NATO's 29 allies invested more than $900 billion on defense in 2017, with U.S. spending accounting for two-thirds of that.
Germany increased spending by 6 percent last year.