Trump's influence on Nato’ spending targets

TRUMP has insisted Nato countries hit the five-percent bar — well beyond the current two percent baseline level currently required by the alliance.

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Only a handful of allies - such as Poland and the Baltic states - are coming close to five percent at the moment, with the US itself under 3.4% in 2024.

Nato’ 32 nations have thrashed out a compromise deal to dedicate 3.5% to core military needs by 2035, and 1.5% to broader “defence-related” areas such as cybersecurity and infrastructure.

That gives Trump the win he craves while granting cash-strapped European governments some wiggle room.

Nevertheless, it is still a major ask for many governments and will add hundreds of billions to budgets in the coming years.

The bulk of the spending is still required to go on Nato’s key focus area: raw military might.

Alliance members last month signed up to new targets for all the hardware they need to face off against the threat from Russia.