Australia’s deputy prime minister said the nation will base defense spending on national interest, amid calls by President Donald Trump for US Indo-Pacific allies to increase military budgets.

Richard Marles, also Australia’s defense minister, will join NATO leaders for meetings in the coming week at The Hague. “There will inevitably be conversations around defense spending,” he said in a Sky News Australia interview on Sunday.

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US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has urged Australia to increase its defense budget, part of a broader push by the Trump administration to encourage allies to raise it toward 5 percent of gross domestic product. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said the nation would determine its own levels of military expenditure.

“We will have a respectful conversation with the United States, of course we will do that, and of course we will determine our own defense spending based on Australia’s national interest,” Marles said Sunday.

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The Australian government is currently aiming to increase defense spending to 2.4 percent of gross domestic product by the financial year ending 2034, a significant boost but below what Trump seeks from US allies.