NATO leaders appear to be on track for an agreement to more than double their target for defense spending — to 5 percent of annual economic output — by using some creative number-crunching to please President Donald Trump,

The president has long pressed European allies to pay more for their own security. So they may redefine what qualifies as security.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday he was confident that members of the NATO alliance would sign up to Donald Trump's demand for a major boost in defence spending, adding that it had to happen by a summit later in June.