NATO Defense Spending Agreement Not End of Story, Experts Say

They said the nations still need to figure out where to find the money and what counts as defense spending.

President Donald Trump (4th L, front) poses with the leaders of NATO nations, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the Dutch king and queen, on the eve of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 24, 2025. Haiyun Jiang/AFP via Getty Images

News Analysis

After months of behind-the-scenes haggling and political pressure from President Donald Trump, the leaders of all 32 NATO member countries signed on to a deal on June 25 to spend 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense by 2035.