Sooner or later, every NATO country will have to meet defence spending target, says Polish PM

All members of NATO will eventually have to fulfil the pledge to spend two per cent of their GDP on defence, Poland's prime minister said on Monday at the conclusion of a meeting in Warsaw with his Canadian counterpart.

While praising Canada as one of Poland's «best allies,» Donald Tusk delicately avoided criticizing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's refusal to publicly commit to the alliance benchmark — something all 31 NATO members agreed to at last summer's leaders' summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

«I don't want to break the rules of hospitality, but I'm convinced that sooner or later [meeting the target] will take place in every NATO member country,» said Tusk.

Canada has been under increasing public pressure from allies — such as the United States and the secretary general of NATO — to lay out a plan to meet the two per cent of GDP target. This could require the federal government to invest perhaps as much as $18 billion a year more on top of the roughly $28.9 billion that's already being appropriated.
Donald Trump, the former U.S. president and likely Republican nominee, has said he'd encourage Russia to «do whatever the hell it wants» to NATO countries that don't invest enough in their own defence.

Tusk said the issue is not about responding to Trump's threats, it's about meeting assurances allies have made among themselves.

«So, the simplest answer is that we all, with no exceptions, fulfil those requirements,» Tusk said. «It's not because some politician wants it or not. It's because it's our commitment, so we should do it.»

'We know there is more to do'

In a message mostly directed to Poland's European allies,Tusk also said it's important for NATO countries to exceed Russia's defence capacity.

At the moment, Poland leads