Boosting defence spending is a task for all NATO members willing to close gaps with allies, ministers from historic low-spenders Italy and Germany said on Friday, following a round of talks with European counterparts.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said his country is prepared to move toward spending 5% of its economic output on defense, backing a goal pushed by US President Donald Trump for NATO members and underscoring the new Berlin government’s more aggressive stance on the military.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius on Thursday pushed back against calls to raise NATO members' defence spending target to 5% of their economic output. At a meeting in Berlin with his British counterpart John Healey on Thursday,