France rejects US criticism of its defence spending

By John Irish

France rejected criticism from new U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that it lagged in defence, saying it met NATO's target to spend 2% of GDP on its military, was on course to double spending by 2030, and fields forces capable of major missions abroad.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressuring NATO allies to raise defence spending to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) – a target none of the 32 NATO member states, including the United States itself, currently meets.

In an interview on Thursday, Rubio included France among big European countries he said were spending too little.

"It's interesting - and in fairness Poland, Lithuania and Estonia, the closer you are to Russia, the more they are spending as a percentage of GDP on national defence - but then you have countries like France and Germany, big, powerful economies and they don't spend as much on national security," Rubio told The Megyn Kelly Show podcast.

He said countries such as France and Germany assume the United States will protect them if they are attacked, so they "can instead spend that money on this enormous social safety net".

In response, the French Foreign Ministry said France was among the 23 NATO member countries that already spend at least 2% of GDP on defence, and is due to double its defence spending by 2030.

"Finally, the French armed forces stand out for their operational nature and their ability to design and conduct large-scale operations abroad," the foreign ministry said.

The only nuclear-armed member of the EU, France has advocated for Europe to take a bigger role in the continent's own defence, particularly since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. According to World Bank data, French defence spending rose to 2.1% of GDP in 2023 after hovering below 2% for most of the previous 20 years.