LONDON \u2014 US President Barack Obama warned British Prime Minister David Cameron against allowing defense spending to slip below NATO’s target of 2 percent of gross domestic product when the two leaders met in Washington last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obama warned that failure to meet the NATO <\/span>spending target would undermine the NATO <\/span>alliance and that if Britain didn’t step up and meet the budget goal then nobody else in Europe would either, the Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The US pP<\/span>resident is the latest, and most important, of a string of top US gG<\/span>overnment officials to warn Britain of the implications of falling defense spending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ex-US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others have made similar points over the last few years as Britain slashed defense spending as part of government financial austerity measures. implemented by the gG<\/span>overnment.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n British defense spending at just over \u00a333 billion (US $50.3 billion) already hovers close to the 2 percent target but with further big cuts to government budgets expected on the other side of the May general election, who ever wins ,<\/span>the forecast is that the NATO guideline will be breached whichever party wins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A cross-government spending review is scheduled to follow the election as Britain continues to wrestle with ailing public finances. Only health, education and overseas aid budgets have so far been exempted from further cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leaking of the conversation between Obama and Cameron further cranks up growing pressure from politicians and others to raise the issue of defense cuts ahead of the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week, two former defense ministers from the Conservative and Labour parties added their names to a parliamentary motion demanding the government continue to meet its 2 percent spending pledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To date, the Conservative-led coalition government has failed to guarantee Britain will maintain spending at or above the <\/span>2 percent beyond the next financial year starting in April despite having pushed for European NATO members to meet the mandated 2 percent <\/span>level at the alliance held <\/span>summit in Newport, South Wales, last September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A report released by the Royal United Services Institute think tank to coincide with the summit said depending on the size of any defense cuts and other factors, like economic growth, by 2020 British spending on the military could account for as little as 1.6 percent of GDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only Britain, the US, Greece and Estonia currently meet the NATO spending requirements, and with the threat from Russia and the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East, there has been increasing pressure being <\/span>applied <\/span>for European nations to reverse the trends of recent years and hike defense spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n