Tuesday marks the beginning of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s two-day visit to the Netherlands, where NATO members are preparing to decide whether to more than double the target for defense spending. The main talks in The Hague won’t happen until Wednesday, with Carney first set to take part in several bilateral meetings.
Carney will meet with the President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dick Schoof. In addition, he will meet with leaders of the Nordic nations for talks about Arctic security and transatlantic security. The prime minister will also meet with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is set to speak to reporters twice today, first in The Hague at around 7:15 am ET and then virtually at 8:30 am ET.U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte have both said they expect alliance members to commit to a new target to spend the equivalent of five per cent of GDP on defence, up from the current two per cent target set in 2014.
According to NATO’s own data, none of the 32 members spent that much on defense in 2024. All of them are pledging to meet the two per cent figure this year, including Canada for the first time since the target was created.
A Canadian government official who briefed reporters on background before the trip said the spending target and its timeline are still up for discussion. Canada’s defense spending has not reached 5% of GDP since the 1950s, but some allies have indicated that they would prefer a seven-year timeline. Other allies have indicated that they would prefer a decade to reach the goal. NATO estimates that Canada spent $41 billion in 2024 on defence, or 1.37 per cent of GDP. In 2014, Canada spent $20.1 billion, or 1.01 per cent of GDP, on defence.In 2014, when the current two per cent target was first set, only three NATO members hit the mark — the U.S., the U.K. and Greece.Any new spending guidelines have to be made with the consensus of all 32 NATO member states, and no member is currently anywhere close. The U.S., at 3.38 per cent in 2024, was the highest, but President Donald Trump has said the figure shouldn’t apply to the United States — only to its allies.
The Rutte plan is expected to put forward at the summit contains some wiggle room to help allies reach that high figure.
Carney to talk NATO defence spending hike as summit kicks off
