United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday met with French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu at the Pentagon and called on the European country to hike defense spending, the Department of Defense said in a press release.
Furthermore, Hegseth urged France to "take primary responsibility for Europe's conventional defense" alongside other NATO countries. The two officials also discussed "the ongoing efforts" to achieve a lasting peace in Ukraine, according to the press release.
France currently spends 2.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense, but the country's President Emmanuel Macron set a goal of increasing military spending to 3.5% and called on other European countries to do the same.
