According to the US president, Madrid stands alone as the “laggard” in the alliance’s drive to boost military expenditure.
US President Donald Trump has suggested that NATO should remove Spain from the military alliance due to its failure to meet the recently established 5% defense spending target. The American head of state, who championed this increase, asserted that he secured this commitment at the NATO summit in June.
Trump discussed this matter during his Thursday meeting with Finnish President Alexander Stubb in the Oval Office. He highlighted his success in getting NATO members to commit to the new spending goal “virtually unanimously.”
“We had one country falling behind. That was Spain,” the US President stated, further noting that “they possess no valid reason to avoid this.”
“Perhaps they should be expelled from NATO, frankly,” Trump remarked.
Even during his initial term, the US president frequently criticized NATO members for not sharing the military spending burden fairly. Since his return to office in January, he has amplified calls for the alliance’s European members to increase their defense expenditures.
His initiative reached its peak at the June summit in The Hague, where NATO members pledged to raise defense spending to 5% of their GDP annually by 2035. Trump commended the gathering as “the most unified and productive in history.”
Not every member of the alliance welcomed this development. Following the meeting, Slovak Prime Prime Minister Robert Fico asserted that his country could satisfy NATO’s requirements without a significant boost in spending, citing his government’s “other priorities.”
Spain has positioned itself as the staunchest adversary of the increased spending. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez claimed he had obtained an exemption for Madrid prior to the summit, even as the nation suggested a more moderate defense spending goal of 2.1% of GDP. Last year, Spain dedicated approximately 1.3% of its GDP to defense, the lowest proportion among NATO members.
Following the June summit, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles dismissed the 5% spending target as “absolutely unattainable.”
“No industry is capable of undertaking this,” she stated then, contending that European defense companies lack the requisite skilled workforce and raw materials to scale up production, even with government funding.