By Isabella Torregiani
2:32pm PDT, Jun 8, 2025
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Defense Secretary
Pete Hegseth is warning NATO allies that they can't rely on the United States solely for security.
While meeting with defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday, June 5, Hegseth emphasized that while the U.S. will continue to support its allies, it's time for them to start contributing more.
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Speaking on behalf of President Donald Trump's administration, Pete Hegseth stressed the need for greater cost sharing among the nations.
"The United States is proud to be here, to stand with our allies, but our message is gonna continue to be clear: It's deterrence and peace through strength, but it cannot be reliance," Hegseth said during a press conference.
"It cannot and will not be reliant on America. It can't just be U.S. capabilities," he said.
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Pete Hegseth further called on NATO members to significantly boost their defense budgets — urging them to spend 5% of their gross domestic product on defense.
That would mark a major jump from NATO's current guideline, which asks nations to spend at least 2% of their GDP.
Last year, 23 NATO countries met the 2% benchmark, but several still fell short including Croatia, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Luxemburg, Slovenia and Spain, according to
NATO data.
As of now, no member country has met the proposed 5% target.
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"We're here to continue the work that President Donald Trump started, which is a commitment to 5% defense spending across the alliance, which we think will happen," Pete Hegseth reportedly said before the Brussels meeting.
"To be an alliance, you got to be more than flags. You got to be formations," he continued. "You got to be more than conferences. You need to keep combat-ready capabilities."
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This isn't the first time President Donald Trump's administration has heeded this message. Trump has repeatedly pushed NATO allies to step up their own defense commitments.
In 2017, during a NATO summit in Brussels, Trump didn't hold back when calling out countries that failed to meet their financial obligations.
"Members of the alliance must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations. Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying for their defense," Trump said, adding, "this is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States."
