COPENHAGEN, June 2, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Denmark's prime minister warned regional allies Monday that a NATO target to boost defence spending by 2032 would come "too late", as countries arm in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

    At a meeting of Nordic and Baltic NATO members in Lithuania, Mette Frederiksen commented on the proposal to raise defence and security spending to five percent of GDP, as demanded by US President Donald Trump, by 2032.

    "I hope that during the NATO summit in The Hague (from June 24 to 26), we will agree on 3.5 percent for the armed forces and 1.5 percent on broader defence"-related spending, the centre-left premier told Danish public broadcaster DR. 

    "The question now is whether we will accomplish this before 2032. In my opinion, this is too late," she said.

    Trump has been pressuring NATO allies to spend five percent of their GDP on defence -- a level none of the alliance's 32 members, including the United States, currently hit.

    In response NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has floated a proposal for 3.5 percent of GDP on direct defence spending by 2032, and 1.5 percent of broader security-related expenditures. 

    Since coming to power in 2019, Frederiksen has sharply increased Denmark's defence spending, especially since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

    "When I became prime minister, we dedicated 1.3 percent of GDP to defence," she noted.

    "Now we spend more than three percent, but that's not enough. We need to increase defence spending in the years to come."