NATO allies are moving toward a new defense spending benchmark of 5 percent of GDP ahead of next month’s crucial leaders’ summit, alliance Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Monday.

“I assume that in The Hague we will agree on a higher defense spending target of in total 5 percent,” Rutte said during a Q&A session at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in the United States. 

The move follows months of pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who earlier this year demanded that NATO allies dramatically boost their defense budgets or risk losing American protection. 

At the time, many allies dismissed the idea as political bluster — but rising tensions with Russia and renewed attention on Europe’s military readiness have changed the conversation.

More and more leaders are endorsing the new target, which is a significant increase from the alliance’s current spending target of at least 2 percent of GDP.

Dutch PM Dick Schoof said earlier this month that Rutte had written to NATO leaders calling for them to reach 3.5 percent of GDP on “hard military spending” and 1.5 percent of GDP on “related spending such as infrastructure, cybersecurity and other things” over the next seven years.

Today’s comments mark the first time the NATO chief has publicly endorsed the 5 percent goal.

While Rutte did not outline the exact composition of the 5 percent goal, he said the baseline for traditional military spending would be “considerably north of 3 percent,” with additional funds expected to go toward supporting infrastructure and logistics.

NATO’s most recent figures show 23 of its 32 members are on track to spend at least 2 percent by this summer — a sharp jump from the three countries spending that much when the target was set in 2014 in the wake of Russia’s first aggression on Ukraine.

Still, none have yet hit the 5 percent mark. Poland leads the pack at roughly 4.7 percent of GDP, while Lithuania and Latvia have announced plans to hit or exceed 5 percent over the next two years.