NATO Summit 2025
The NATO Summit of 2025 brought dramatic change in defence policies and international relations. This shift of agreed upon NATO members, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, was a controversial new target of 5% of Gross Domestic Product for defence spending which will have significant effects on the NATO military alliance’s policies and approach to global security.
5% defence spending target
The NATO allies reached consensus on increasing defence spending to a target of 5% of GDP, which includes a fast track to reach 3.5% for core defence spending and 1.5% on spending related to defence. The latter includes expenditures such as infrastructure and innovations that related to ensure national security. Each member country will need to submit annual plans for complying with the target, with reviews of progress aligned with the 2029 US presidential elections.
Challenges facing member nations
The majority of NATO countries cannot rise to the new spending target. The majority don’t meet a 2% spending target, in 2024, only Poland, Estonia and Latvia spent 3% or greater. Spain spent only 1.24% of GDP on defence and were subject to tariffs from the US for not complying with spending targets.
Article 5 calls for collective defence
Article 5 of NATO’s treaty is the still main arm of NATO’s collective security. An attack on one member is an attack on all members. Article 5 encouraged countries to join NATO due to realisation wars are fought by coalitions, and current events demonstrate Article 5 matters. The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war compelled Finland and Sweden to seek NATO membership.
Relations with Russia
Whereas the tone of US-Russia relations has warmed somewhat under Trump, NATO’s presidential allies recognized an official shift in NATO’s perspective towards Russia. The declaration of the 2025 NATO summit acknowledged that “Russia poses a long-term threat”; however it was careful not to condemn Russia outright for its aggression against Ukraine. Of course, all of this is likely reminiscent of Trump’s previous friendship with Putin.
Implications for the Future of NATO
How the NATO summit delegates approach or harness these recent decisions will likely shape our fantastic alliance for years to come. The new target on defense spending will weigh heavily on NATO’s member states moving sofá while changing the collective security dynamic for NATO’s member states. Also, while Ukraine is trifling discussion or sidelined in NATO discussions, it begs the question of where the alliance is heading, and it implies that NATO may not be fully committed to eastern European members.