Danish PM Aims to Boost Defense Spending to Meet NATO Benchmark - White House

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told President Donald Trump in a meeting on Thursday that he intends to increase his country's defense spending to meet NATO's required standard, the White House said in a press release.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — According to the release, the two leaders discussed in the White House meeting "their desire to see NATO strengthened to confront 21st century threats."

"The President urged the Prime Minister to work towards NATO’s benchmark of committing 2 percent of GDP to defense, and the Prime Minister underscored his intention to push for a substantial increase in defense spending in the coming years."

Earlier, US President Donald Trump called NATO "obsolete." He also accused European members of the alliance of not sharing US' burden concerning defense spending. He called for boosting the spending in 2017.

The issue of the contributions to the alliance has been raised repeatedly by the new US administration, insisting on all countries honoring their NATO budget responsibilities. The target of spending 2 percent of the GDP mandated by NATO was adopted at the Alliance's September 2014 Summit in Wales, with only five countries, including the United States, meeting the required standard, according to NATO figures.

Denmark is a member of NATO and spends about 1.2 percent of its GDP on defense spending.