US criticizes Czech Republic for low defense spending

The Czech Republic should spend more on defense as the White House waits for allies to be involved, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. The Czech Republic has so far failed to meet its defense spending target of 2% of GDP, which was set back in 2014.

“Unfortunately, the Czech Republic is at the bottom of the Alliance’s defense spending ranking,” Matthew Whitaker said at the Prague Defense Summit. The U.S. remains committed to NATO and protecting partners, he said, but expects "allies to step up.".

In June 2025, NATO countries at a summit in The Hague agreed to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. Meanwhile, the Czech government of Andrei Babis, who took over as prime minister late last year, cut defense spending to 1.7 percent in its 2026 budget. The authorities explained the decision by the fact that the country needed urgent improvement of the health system and had to cover last year’s budget deficit. In 2027, the Czech Republic plans to increase defense spending to 2%.

Lucine Balasian