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White House says Asian allies can boost defense spending if NATO can

Published: 27 Jun. 2025, 09:25 Updated: 27 Jun. 2025, 12:09

U.S. President Donald Trump poses for a photo during a NATO summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, on June 25. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

A White House spokesperson said Thursday that Asian allies can also raise their defense spending if European allies can do it, a remark that reinforced expectations that the Donald Trump administration may demand Korea and other Indo-Pacific allies shoulder a greater share of the security burden.

Karoline Leavitt, the spokesperson, made the remarks after NATO member states agreed this week to increase their defense spending target from 2 percent of their GDP to 5 percent by 2035.

"Look, if our allies in Europe and our NATO allies can do it, I think our allies and our friends in the Asia-Pacific region can do it as well," she said during a press briefing.

"But as for our specific relations in those discussions, I'll let the president speak on those," she added.

During this week's NATO summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, member states committed to spending at least 3.5 percent of their GDP annually on core defense expenditures by 2035, and up to 1.5 percent of GDP on efforts to protect critical infrastructure, defend networks and strengthen the defense industrial base, among others.

Earlier this month, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said that Korea and other Asian allies are also subject to the "global standard" of spending 5 percent of GDP on defense.

Korea's defense budget this year stands at around 61.2 trillion won ($44.6 billion), which is about 2.32 percent of its GDP, according to Seoul's Ministry of National Defense.

Yonhap