WASHINGTON - US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday he wanted to raise overall US defense spending, adding that it should not drop below 3 percent of gross domestic product, local media reported.

Hegseth made the comment while speaking to reporters in Stuttgart, Germany, home to the headquarters of the US Africa Command.

"I think the US needs to spend more than the Biden administration was willing to, who historically underinvested in the capabilities of our military," Hegseth said.

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He repeated Trump's demand for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries to ramp up defense spending to 5 percent of GDP, saying it was a "reflection of a need to invest on the continent."

In December 2024, the US Senate passed the 895-billion-US-dollar National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2025. Military spending approved in the bill represented a 1 percent increase from the previous year.

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The World Bank, citing data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said the United States spent about 3.4 percent of GDP on defense in 2023.