BRUSSELS — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte signaled a united front on Thursday in urging NATO allies to significantly boost defense spending, as the alliance confronts growing global threats ahead of its upcoming summit in The Hague.
“Today will be an important meeting,” Rutte said, opening the NATO defense ministerial in Brussels. “We will agree on the capability targets we need going forward to keep one billion people safe in NATO territory.”
Rutte added that member nations should prepare to commit to higher spending targets at the NATO summit scheduled for June 24–26 in the Netherlands.
“We already know we need to spend much, much more if we want to fulfill all these targets,” Rutte said.
Standing beside Rutte, Hegseth echoed that message, describing his visit to Europe as a mission to ensure all NATO countries shoulder their fair share of the collective defense burden.
“Every shoulder has to be to the plow; every country has to contribute — at that level of 5% [of GDP] — as a recognition of the nature of the threat,” Hegseth said.
He stressed that while the United States remains committed to NATO, it must not become the alliance’s default backstop.
“[The goal is] deterrence and peace through strength, but it can’t be reliance,” he said. “It cannot — and will not — be reliance on America in a world of a lot of threats.”
Hegseth praised Rutte for engaging in what he called “hard and necessary” discussions on the alliance’s readiness.
“We need to be considering the threats we face in the world today,” he said, “and [we need to] have that conversation robustly and constructively.”
Since taking office in January, Hegseth has maintained a firm stance on increasing NATO burden-sharing. In February, he called for greater European leadership in defense of Ukraine and praised Poland’s role during a joint appearance in Warsaw.
On Thursday, he reiterated that message, emphasizing that “those hard conversations” with allies will continue.
“We need our allies to step up, as well as we stand alongside them,” he told Rutte.
“Pete, thank you for being here,” Rutte responded. “Thank you for your leadership, and thank you for being such a staunch ally.”
