Germany eyes goal of 1.5 per centdefence spending by 2025

BERLIN – Germany’s defence minister says Berlin will raise its military spending to 1.5 per cent of GDP by 2025 — far short of the 2 per cent goal demanded of NATO members by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Monday that defence spending will reach 1.3 per cent next year. She plans to tell allies at next month’s NATO summit that Germany “wants defence spending’s share of the gross domestic product to reach 1.5 per cent in 2025.”

German news agency dpa cited experts saying that would amount to about 60 billion euros ($72 billion), compared with 37 billion euros last year.

She didn’t address claims Saturday by the new U.S. ambassador in Berlin, Richard Grenell, that Chancellor Angela Merkel has told Trump that Berlin will reach the 2 per cent target by 2030.