Pistorius rejects Trump's demand for defense spending at 5% of GDP.

The German defense minister disagrees with the U.S. president's demand to increase NATO defense spending to 5% of GDP.

In an interview with Tagesspiegel, the minister called this unrealistic and excessive.

'Five percent of our economic output would equal 42 percent of the federal budget - that's almost every second euro that the government spends, about 230 billion euros. We would not be able to handle it, and we wouldn't even be able to spend such an amount,' the minister said.

Trump called on NATO allies to increase defense spending during his election campaign.

But when asked why the U.S. itself does not meet this figure, Trump refused to answer.

'We protect them. They do not protect us,' Trump said.

The minister acknowledged that Germany needs to spend more on defense but rejected the idea of chasing numbers.

He stated that it is important to achieve NATO goals regarding forces and resources within agreed timelines.

The situation is complicated by the fact that Germany does not have a federal budget plan for 2025 due to political issues in the government.

Currently, Germany spends 2.12% of GDP on defense, but this figure has already been achieved through a special fund.

The end of the fund presents Germany with difficult decisions about increasing defense spending without undermining the federal budget.

The NATO Secretary General called on Germany to increase defense spending and boost arms production.