(5 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
AGENCY POOL
Brussels, Belgium – 5 June 2025
1. US Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth arriving for briefing
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Pete Hegseth, U.S. Defense Secretary:
"From France, to Germany, to the Baltics, to the Nordic countries, to Poland, to Greece, to Hungary, to so many more, the commitment is there. Five percent on defense spending. When you consider the threats that we face, the urgency in the world, it’s critical. We don’t need more flags. We need more fighting formations. We don’t need more conferences. We need more capabilities, hard power."
3. Mid of journalist asking question
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Pete Hegseth, U.S. Defense Secretary:
"It was an alliance that was sleepwalking to irrelevance and President Trump in his first term said, ‘you need to step up and spend more.’ And he has in this term done the same, and what I saw in there were countries prepared to step-up to push the limits of what they can do – that’s a good thing, that’s friends helping friends."
5. Mid of reporting asking a question
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Pete Hegseth, U.S. Defense Secretary:
"America can’t be everywhere all the time, nor should we be and so there are reasons why we have troops in certain places and we respect and understand that. It was also prudent that we review that force posture in real time alongside our allies and partners to make sure it’s right size, so I don’t want to get ahead of the president’s decision on that, but we’re reviewing everything."
7. Mid of reporter asking a question
8. Various of Hegseth leaving
STORYLINE:
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that many countries appear on track to agree to Trump’s 5% demand.
"The commitment is there. 5% on defense spending," he told reporters after stepping out of the meeting.
"When you consider the threats that we face, the urgency in the world, it’s critical. We don’t need more flags. We need more fighting formations. We don’t need more conferences. We need more capabilities. Hard power."
It comes as NATO defense ministers gathered on Thursday to approve purchasing targets for stocking up on weapons and military equipment to better defend Europe, the Arctic and the North Atlantic, as part of a U.S. push to ramp up security spending.
The “capability targets” lay out goals for each of the 32 nations to purchase priority equipment like air defense systems, long-range missiles, artillery, ammunition, drones and “strategic enablers” such as air-to-air refueling, heavy air transport and logistics. Each nation’s plan is classified, so details are scarce.
Spurred on by their own security concerns, European allies and Canada have already been ramping up military spending, including arms and ammunition purchases, since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
At the same time, some allies balk at U.S. demands to invest 5% of their gross domestic product in defense — 3.5% on core military spending and 1.5% on the roads, bridges, airfields and sea ports needed to deploy armies more quickly — when they have already struggled to grow their budgets to 2% of GDP.
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