Mattis calls on NATO members to pull more weight

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, at his first meeting of NATO defense ministers today, told allies they must increase their military spending by year’s end or the United States will “moderate its commitment” to mutual defense. Mattis urged NATO countries to up their defense budgets to 2 percent of gross domestic product per country. The United States, Britain, Estonia, Greece, and Poland already meet that goal, and Germany spends 1.19 percent of its overall budget on defense. Some NATO countries, including Canada, Italy, and Spain, would have to virtually double military spending to hit that benchmark. Mattis argued the increases are necessary to ward off threats from Russia and Islamic State (ISIS). British defense chief Michael Fallon agreed with Mattis and asked NATO members to commit to annual budget increases as a show of good faith.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.