6. Department of State · Minor
Press NATO members to meet and exceed the Wales Pledge 2 percent target
Printed page 187 6. Department of State
“At stake after 2024 will be examining the status of the Wales Pledge of 2 percent of gross domestic product toward defense by NATO members. The new Administration will also want to encourage nations to exceed that pledge.”
What has happened
- Done
Sustained at NATO's 2026 Ankara Summit, where the White House reported a further surge in allied defense investment and described the resulting arrangement as "NATO 3.0 - greater burden sharing and self-reliance".
- Done
At the NATO summit in The Hague the allies agreed to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP, well beyond the 2 percent Wales Pledge; the White House recorded the commitment and the allied leaders' attribution of it to U.S. pressure. State's May 2026 report to Congress on burden sharing treats "the Hague Commitment, which pledges NATO countries to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense" as the operative standard for U.S. security assistance policy.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Every source this Status rests on is allowlisted and was read in full; none of it was off the allowlist or unreadable.
- Action
- other
- Object
- Wales Pledge of 2 percent of GDP for NATO defense spending
- ID
- 503