U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan was in Lithuania Tuesday for the NATO summit, stressing that other countries in the alliance need to pay more for their defense.
“One of the reasons this is important, the lack of progress on this issue – last year, seven of the 31 members of NATO hit their 2% GDP target – has the potential to actually undermine continued U.S. support for Ukraine,” Sullivan said during a press conference with other members of Congress. “Those issues in my view are tied together.”
Sullivan told reporters that the point of the senators’ visit was to show bipartisan support for the treaty alliance, and for continued military assistance to Ukraine. Sullivan, though, spent more time noting that too few NATO member countries are living up to the pledge to spend 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.
A report this week from NATO says 11 member countries are now meeting the 2% spending goal. In relative terms, Poland spends the most on defense, at nearly 4% of its GDP, and the U.S. spends about 3.5%, according to NATO’s figures.
Sullivan said American support for adding Sweden and Ukraine to NATO could be contingent on how much other countries spend on their armed forces.
“With regard to NATO, I think there’s a growing view in the United States that we shouldn’t have new members until the current members all hit their 2% commitment and target,” he said.
Over the years, American political leaders of both parties have complained that European countries are essentially freeloading while the U.S. invests in their common defense. But former President Trump has made it a signature issue. He discussed withdrawing the United States from the alliance if other nations didn’t meet the 2% goal.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
