U.S. Praises NATO States For Record Defense Spending

The United States on Wednesday hailed NATO's announcement that 18 members have met a defense spending target, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"I think it's incredibly important," State Department's spokesperson Matthew Miller told a daily briefing when asked by TURAN about the NATO spending estimates unveiled earlier in Brussels.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that 18 of 31 members were meeting the alliance's goal of spending two percent of gross domestic product on defense -- up from 11 last year. The move came just days after threats by former president Donald Trump to encourage Russia to attack allies that do not spend enough.

"That is another record number, and a six-fold increase from 2014, when only three allies met the target," Stoltenberg told reporters. "The criticism that we hear is not primarily about NATO, it's about NATO allies not spending enough on NATO. And that's a valid point."

According to Miller, Washington continues to see progress from other countries towards meeting those targets, and "we will urge those who have not yet met them to continue to take steps to do so," he said.

"We have made clear that we expect countries to meet that target. There is often this misnomer that countries pay money to the U.S. and they’re in arrears; that, of course, is not factually the case. It’s not factually how it works. But there are defense spending targets that they are supposed to meet," he said.

"NATO is an alliance that the American people derive tremendous benefit from, provides tremendous security to the United States," Miller concluded.