CANBERRA
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday defended her country’s defense spending strategy, resisting pressure from the Trump administration to increase it to 3.5% of GDP, according to local media reports.
Albanese said that his country will stick to its current plan to lift defense spending from 2% to 2.3% of GDP by 2034, SBS News reported.
“We have increased our defence investment. We have increased it by $57 billion over the medium-term; and by more than $10 billion in the short-term as well. My job is to look after Australia’s national interest – that includes our defence and security interests. And that is precisely what we’re doing,” he said.
On Thursday, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles also said that his country will stick with its defense spending targets despite pressure from US President Donald Trump, who wants allies to reduce their reliance on Washington.
Member countries of NATO, of which Australia is not a member, agreed to increase defense spending targets to 5% of GDP.
The 5% target includes two main components: at least 3.5% of GDP annually for core defense expenditures to meet NATO Capability Targets, and up to 1.5% of GDP for areas such as critical infrastructure protection, cybersecurity, civil resilience, innovation, and industrial capacity-building.
But Spain refused, prompting Trump to threaten to punish the country with a tougher trade agreement.
