NATO Secretary-General once again criticizes Trump's remarks, emphasizes the importance of unity. 18 of the 31 member countries are expected to achieve their defense spending targets this year.
NATO has set a goal for each country to increase its defense spending to 2% or more of GDP (gross domestic product) As of July last year, 11 countries were expected to achieved the goal, so this is a significant increase. Secretary-general Stoltenberg emphasized that European countries are working towards increasing their budgets, and appealed to the importance to unity in the face of Russia's continued invasion of Ukraine.