U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited NATO for the first time as a member of the new Trump administration. The allies are eager to know the level of military and financial support the U.S. will offer to Ukraine.
Hegseth met with U.K. Defence Secretary John Healey and attended a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The forum, initiated by former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in 2022, aims to secure arms and ammunition for Ukraine.
Pete Hegseth walks with Britain’s Defense Secretary John Healey prior to a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.
Johanna Geron, Pool Photo via AP
Since its inception, approximately 50 countries have collectively provided over $126 billion in weapons and military aid to Ukraine. This week’s meeting was unique as the United Kingdom, not the United States, called for the gathering. Previous forums were chaired by the U.S.
No decision has been made on who might chair the next meeting, if one is called.
Hegseth wasn’t expected to make any announcement on new weapons for Ukraine.
His trip comes less than two weeks before the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Most U.S. allies fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t stop at Ukraine’s borders if he wins, and that Europe’s biggest land war in decades poses an existential threat to their security.
U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to quickly end the war. He’s complained that it’s costing American taxpayers too much money. He has suggested that Ukraine should pay for U.S. support with access to its rare earth minerals, energy and other resources.
Some U.S. allies worry that a hasty deal might be clinched on terms that aren’t favorable to Ukraine. On top of that, Trump appears to believe that European countries should take responsibility for Ukraine’s security going forward.
Washington’s 31 NATO allies also want to hear what Trump’s new administration has in store for the world’s biggest security organization. Trump traumatized his European partners during his first term in office by threatening not to defend any member that doesn’t meet NATO guidelines for military spending.
NATO is founded on the principle that an attack on any ally must be considered an attack on them all and met with a collective response. Membership is considered to be the ultimate security guarantee, and it’s one that Ukraine is trying to secure.
Ukraine’s security needs and defense spending will be discussed on Thursday. European allies have hiked their military budgets since Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, and 23 are estimated to have reached or exceeded last year the target of spending 2% of gross domestic product.
However, a third of members still haven’t reached that threshold, and Trump is almost certain to target them again. Recently, Trump called for NATO members to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, a level that no member has reached so far – not even Poland, which is the closest, spending more than 4% and expected to approach 5% this year.
Speaking to reporters in Germany on Tuesday, Hegseth wouldn’t commit to having the U.S. increase its defense spending to 5% of GDP. Hegseth said that he believes that the U.S. should spend more than it did under the Biden administration and “should not go lower than 3 percent.”
He said any final decision would be up to Trump, but added that “we live in fiscally constrained times” and need to be responsible with taxpayer money. The U.S. spends about 3.3% of GDP on defense.
NATO leaders are expected to agree on new spending targets at their next planned summit, in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 24-26.
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Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report from Washington.
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