Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell provided the following readout:
On July 25, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth met with his Baltic counterparts, Minister Pevkur, Estonia; Minister Sprūds, Latvia; and Minister Šakalienė, Lithuania at the Pentagon. The Secretary appreciated the Baltic states' clear-eyed view of the European security environment and praised all three nations for being on track to meet the 5% of GDP defense spending commitment in 2026. The Secretary reiterated the importance of European allies taking primary responsibility for Europe's conventional defense and leveraging higher spending on the continent into fielding combat credible capabilities. Secretary Hegseth and the Baltic Ministers also discussed the importance of building capacity among our defense industrial bases.