UNITED States Defence Secretary James Mattis and Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg pressed other members of the cold-war alliance today to ramp up their spending on armaments.

Mr Mattis was in Brussels to meet the defence ministers of Nato countries, 15 of which have submitted plans to increase their military spending to 2 per cent of economic output by 2024.

That followed a threat by US President Donald Trump to withdraw support from those countries judged not to be spending enough on war.