00:00Hi.
00:01Sorry, I'm back here.
00:02Your last name's Reuters?
00:03It's pretty cool, isn't it?
00:04Go ahead.
00:05On the 5% defense spending target, have you received pushback to this idea while you've
00:06been here this week?
00:07And you mentioned yesterday up to 5% was your language.
00:08What do you mean by up to 5%?
00:09Well, I said up to a path of getting up to 5% at some point.
00:10I'm not saying overnight, but to get to that point.
00:11We think that's what NATO allies need to be spending for NATO to face the threats that
00:12we're facing.
00:13I think that's what we need to be doing.
00:14I think that's what we need to be doing.
00:15I think that's what we need to be doing.
00:16I think that's what we need to be doing.
00:17I think that's what we need to be doing.
00:18I think that's what we need to be doing.
00:43are good but they need to continue, but this is not about spending, this is not about money
00:47necessarily, this is about capability. In order for NATO to be stronger, it needs partners
00:52that are stronger. The United States commits a lot to NATO and continues to. We are as
00:56involved in NATO today as we have ever been and we intend to continue to be, but it has
01:01to be a real alliance and that means that our alliance partners have to increase their
01:04own capabilities. So hopefully two things have led to that. The first is the war in
01:08Ukraine I think has woken up a lot of people on the continent about real threats and real
01:13war and the other is I think the pressure and the statements of President Trump that
01:17have been pretty consistent about increasing their spending. So this whole trajectory of
01:21more defense spending began I believe back in 2017, 2018 under President Trump's first
01:27term. We want that trend to continue and we are hoping when the leaders meet in The Hague
01:32that there will be further and firmer commitments in that direction. I think it's beneficial
01:36to the alliance. The stronger our partners in NATO are, the more capable our partners
01:41in NATO are, the stronger NATO is and everybody should be in favor of that.
01:45And sorry, just to follow up, so will you try and get the official target as 5% rather
01:50than 2% and will the U.S. commit to 5%?
01:52Sure, we're heading there now. We're going to have to spend more on national security
01:55because we have a global footprint and that's the point that I think has been made and missed
01:59in a lot of places. The United States has Indo-Pacific alliance obligations as well
02:05that we've made. We are currently involved in opening up the Red Sea so that global shipping
02:09for everyone, including our European partners, can become possible again. We're engaged in
02:14counter-drug and counter-gang interdictions in the Western Hemisphere. There's obviously
02:18all sorts of issues going on in different parts of the world, including we're concerned
02:22about a resurgence of terrorist cells, whether it's in Africa or in the Middle East. So the
02:27U.S. has these global obligations and we have China that's undergoing the largest, most
02:32expansive peacetime military expansion in history. So we need to confront all of these
02:38things and we're engaged in all of those things. So we're going to have to increase the spending
02:42in our country. I think our commitment to NATO isn't just three and something percent
02:47spending of GDP, it's sustained over an extraordinary period of time and that continues. So look,
02:53I think our partners know they need to do more. They've all indicated they want to do
02:57more. They've begun to do more and that trend needs to continue.
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