(SPECIAL ENVOY) Spain’s decision to follow its own sovereign path of investment in Defense, despite the final document signed by the leaders of the NATO, sparked Donald Trump’s displeasure against the government of Pedro Sánchez and threatened with commercial reprisals.
The summit in The Hague was set with a single theme, defining the spending trajectory for the next decade, in which allied leaders agreed to increase military investment to 5% by 2035, following the threshold demanded by the President of the United States.
What did Trump say against Spain?
“Spain is terrible, what they have done, they are the only country that will not pay in full,” stated the U.S. president in a press conference at the end of the NATO summit.
According to Trump, Spain’s economy is doing well but could turn sour if “something bad happens”, at which point he warned that he will make them “pay double” and the country will “pay back” with trade for the lack of military investment.
“I’m not going to allow it. It’s unfair,” added the U.S. president, reiterating that Spain is “the only country out of all the countries that refuses to pay” its share in defense matters among NATO members. According to Trump, Spain’s attitude is because they want to take advantage of the investment of the other allies.
The Republican president announced that he will “negotiate directly” with Spain, although he insisted that “they will pay more money this way,” emphasizing that this is the toll for not joining the general NATO agreement.
What did the president of the Spanish government say?
Despite the Summit’s declaration, Pedro Sánchez insisted that his country commits to reaching 5% by 2035, allocating at least 3.5% to pure military investment, with 1.5% in security-related expenses, a metric that Spain believes does not apply to it.
This public clash between Trump and Spain comes after days with Sánchez in the spotlight of controversy for his refusal to agree to the 5%. Trump himself, from the presidential plane Air Force One, criticized before arriving in the Netherlands that Spain is a “problem” in NATO due to its lack of defense spending.
Already in The Hague, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, intensified his attacks on Spain: "They have a center-left government that basically wants to spend very little or nothing on the military," stated the head of US diplomacy in remarks to Politico.