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,

NATO member states signed off on the military alliance’s most ambitious military ramp-up since the Cold War as leaders closed in on an agreement to ratchet up spending at a summit later this month.

Trump wants Nato members to raise defence budgets to 5% of their GDP. Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte has proposed a compromise plan, calling for 3.5% dedicated to core military spending by 2032, and an additional 1.