To UK with Nato pullout threat
US defence budget, covering expenditure all over the world and domestically.
Nato concedes that there is “an over-reliance by the Alliance as a whole on the United States for the provision of essential capabilities, including for instance, in regard to intelligence, surveillance and paying for its headquarters and command structure, followed by Germany at 14.7 per cent, France at 10.6 per cent, and the UK at 9.8 per cent.
The row over funding of Nato has focused on a target, set by the alliance at a summit in Wales in 2014, for all members of the alliance to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence - but only by 2024.
Ironically, the commitment was a response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, an issue that the US President appears not to feel as strongly about as some other Nato allies.
Along with the United States, only four other Nato allies have met that goal, including the UK. The US spends 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence, compared with 1.8 per cent in France and 1.2 per Clockwise from main: Protesters bang pans outside the US ambassador’s residence in Regent’s Park; Amnesty unveils a banner on Vauxhall Bridge; more activists say no to Trump; a woman has just one word for the US president cent in Germany and Italy. However, most Nato members are moving towards the target, with all but five having increased defence spending as a proportion of GDP over the past four years. Meanwhile, in the US, defence spending as a proportion of GDP has dropped since 2014.
According to analysis prepared for the Munich Security Conference by Mckinsey, even if all Nato members spent exactly 2 per cent of GDP on defence, the size of the US economy means it would still account for just over half of all Nato defence spending.
If the target was raised to 4 per cent of GDP, as demanded by President Trump, the US share of defence spending would be even higher than it is now.