Donald Trump committed to NATO and is right to push Europe to increase funding, UK defence secretary John Healey says
Concerns about the next US president's commitment to NATO have been raised after he repeatedly complained about the alliance and said European states contribute too little.
Monday 11 November 2024 09:26, UK
The defence secretary has insisted Donald Trump is committed to NATO and is right to push other European nations to put more funding into the security alliance.
John Healey dismissed suggestions the US president-elect will pull out of NATO, the military alliance consisting of 30 European countries and the US and Canada, after previous reports Mr Trump has discussed doing so.
Mr Healey told Sky News: "I don't expect the US to turn away from NATO.
"They recognise the importance of the alliance, they recognise the importance of avoiding further conflict in Europe.
"But, I do say, and I've argued for some time, that the European nations in NATO need to do more of the heavy lifting."
He added that Mr Trump "rightly pushed European nations to do more to fund NATO better".
The defence secretary said the US commitment to NATO remained through the previous Trump administration and he has no reason to think that support will discontinue during his second term.
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Mr Trump has repeatedly criticised NATO and complained about the US contributing too much of its budget to the alliance while accusing European countries of spending too little on defence.
During the election campaign, he said the US would only help defend NATO members from a future attack by Russia if they met their spending obligations.
Members pledged to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence by 2024, with 23 of the 32 countries expected to do so by the end of the year.
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Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, is the biggest spender at 4.1% of GDP, Estonia is second with 3.4% and the US is third with 3.4%.
The UK comes ninth on the list, reaching 2.3% of GDP under the previous Conservative government.
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Mr Healey said his government has committed to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence but did not give a timeline for that goal to be reached.
He said Labour was starting to make good on their promise by increasing defence spending by £3bn next year.
"That's a sign of a government that recognises the first duty of any government is to defend the country and keep our citizens safe," he added.
Mr Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin after the American's win, and told him not to escalate the war in Ukraine, according to The Washington Post and Reuters, although the Kremlin denied the phone call took place on Monday.
Several sources familiar with the call told them the president-elect reminded Mr Putin of the US's sizeable military presence in Europe and discussed the goal of peace on the continent.