{"id":2467509,"date":"2025-07-28T05:22:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T09:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hegseth-announces-baltic-states-will-meet-nato-5-spending-commitment-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T05:24:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T09:24:35","slug":"hegseth-announces-baltic-states-will-meet-nato-5-spending-commitment-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hegseth-announces-baltic-states-will-meet-nato-5-spending-commitment-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth announces Baltic States will meet NATO 5% spending commitment &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhegseth-announces-baltic-states-will-meet-nato-5-spending-commitment-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2467509&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Pete Hegseth, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, announced that the Baltic States-Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia-have committed to increasing their defense spending to meet NATO&#8217;s new 5% of GDP target. This represents a notable increase from the previous 2% guideline established in 2014. Currently, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania spend between roughly 2.85% and 3.43% of their GDP on defense, already among the highest contributors in NATO. The announcement was made during a meeting at the Pentagon with defense ministers from the three countries, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/johnson-adamant-big-beautiful-bill-will-serve-as-vehicle-trump-agenda-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Johnson adamant &#039;big, beautiful bill&#039; will serve as &#039;vehicle&#039; Trump agenda - Washington Examiner\">expressed strong commitment<\/a> to enhancing cooperation and defense capabilities. Hegseth emphasized the importance of this pledge for strengthening NATO&#8217;s deterrence and readiness, aligning with President Trump&#8217;s call for European allies to increase their financial contributions to shared defense efforts. The Baltic States&#8217; pledge serves as a call to other NATO members to similarly boost their defense spending.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Hegseth announces Baltic States will meet NATO 5% spending commitment<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2182176\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Secretary of Defense <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pete-hegseth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Pete Hegseth<\/a> announced on Friday that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/lithuania\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Lithuania<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/estonia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Estonia<\/a>, and Latvia have agreed to commit 5% of their countries&rsquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >gross domestic product<\/a> to NATO&rsquo;s defense spending.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The agreement to do so marks an increase for the Baltic States, which had exceeded the alliance&rsquo;s previously agreed threshold of 2%, established in 2014. Currently, Estonia spends 3.43% of its GDP on NATO defense efforts. Latvia is at 3.15% and Lithuania is at 2.85%, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/commentary\/trackers-and-data-visualizations\/nato-defense-spending-tracker\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NATO&rsquo;s defense spending tracker<\/a>. All three are among the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/nato\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">NATO<\/a> countries that contribute the highest percentage to defense. The pivot to 5% comes as President Donald Trump has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3267308\/trump-push-nato-increase-defense-spending\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called for European countries to contribute more to the alliance&rsquo;s defense spending<\/a> instead of mainly relying on expenditures from the U.S.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3482823\/us-grants-poland-4-billion-dollar-loan-military-equipment\/\">US grants Poland $4 billion loan for military equipment<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3482169\/us-forces-conduct-raid-syria-kill-senior-isis-leader\/\">US forces conduct raid in Syria, kill senior ISIS leader<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3482063\/pentagons-latest-anti-tank-battle-is-a-war-on-thought\/\">Pentagon&rsquo;s latest &lsquo;anti-tank&rsquo; battle is a war on thought<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Hegseth&rsquo;s announcement came during a &ldquo;quadrilateral meeting&rdquo; at the Pentagon with the defense ministers from each country: Hanno Pevkur from Estonia, Andris Spruds from Latvia, and Dovile Sakaliene from Lithuania, according to a press <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/News-Stories\/Article\/Article\/4255675\/baltic-states-pledge-to-meet-natos-5-gdp-military-target\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">release<\/a>. The defense secretary applauded the decision by the Baltic States to commit to the 5% threshold.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The United States remains fully committed to NATO, and together, we&rsquo;re achieving peace through strength in Europe by setting the conditions for negotiated lasting peace in Ukraine, establishing sustainable deterrence and increasing ally capabilities and interoperability,&rdquo; Hegseth said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Your efforts to modernize and invest in new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/army-leaders-join-gen-milley-and-release-statement-saying-there-is-no-role-for-us-army-in-martial-law-in-determining-elections\/\" title=\"Army Leaders Join Gen. Milley and Release Statement Saying There Is \u201cNo Role\u201d for US Army in Martial Law in Determining Elections\">military capabilities<\/a> are critical to deterring attacks and building readiness,&rdquo; Hegseth added about the Baltic States&rsquo; pledge.<\/p>\n<p>The Baltic States&rsquo; diplomats expressed optimism over the pledge to increase spending and stressed the importance of cooperation between the allies.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We are allies who are willing to strengthen our common defense, and we are more than determined to continue this very close cooperation,&rdquo; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/News-Stories\/Article\/Article\/4255675\/baltic-states-pledge-to-meet-natos-5-gdp-military-target\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> Estonia&rsquo;s Pevkur. &ldquo;We stand up for one another, and we defend each other when it&rsquo;s needed. This is what brotherhood-in-arms truly means.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Every one &mdash; every single one &mdash; of United States troops is one of our own in Lithuania, and we do deeply care about them,&rdquo; said Lithuania&rsquo;s Sakaliene. &ldquo;We do deeply care about our friendship, and we consider them family.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3482823\/us-grants-poland-4-billion-dollar-loan-military-equipment\/\"><strong>US GRANTS POLAND $4 BILLION LOAN FOR MILITARY EQUIPMENT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>She also encouraged NATO members to follow Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania&rsquo;s lead and pledge to increase their defense spending to the 5% threshold.<\/p>\n<p>There are 32 countries in the NATO alliance. Poland <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/commentary\/trackers-and-data-visualizations\/nato-defense-spending-tracker\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spends<\/a> the highest percentage of its GDP on NATO defense spending, at 4.12%. The U.S. is second at 3.38%. However, the U.S. leads NATO in defense spending per capita at $2,239 and total defense spending at $967,707,000. As of 2024, eight of 32 NATO members are below the 2% GDP defense spending threshold.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2182176\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2182176\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hegseth: Baltic States to meet NATO 5% defense spending goal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2677,"featured_media":2467510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/HegsethDOD-1024x682.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[60054,39550,45173,50459,32076],"class_list":["post-2467509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-baltic-states","tag-defense-spending","tag-hegseth","tag-nato-2","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/HegsethDOD-1024x682.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2467509"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2467513,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467509\/revisions\/2467513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2467510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2467509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2467509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2467509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}