U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis to press European allies on military spending

FILE PHOTO - U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis joins White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders for the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. February 7, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis will press European allies on Wednesday to stick to a promise to increase military budgets as the United States offers an increase in its own defence spending in Europe.

For the first time, NATO countries have submitted plans to show how they will reach a target to spend 2 percent of economic output on defence every year by 2024, after Trump threatened to withdraw U.S. support for low-spending allies.