The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has reloaded against Spain in the framework of the imminent NATO summit, sharing a graphic with the headline “Spain Threatens to Derail Nato Summit ” (“Spain threatens to derail the NATO summit”) and warning that the low defense expense represents a risk to the success of the meeting.
Through its social truth network, Trump claims the “Incredible” United States effort in defense, which in 2024 represents 3.38% of its GDP, more than 960,000 million dollarscompared to what it considers a non -compliance with several allies, including Spain, whose military investment barely reaches 1.28% of GDP, well below the 2% target set by the alliance at the 2014 Welts Summit.
“Spain does not agree”
Shortly before sharing the graph, Trump spoke from the ‘Air Force One’ while flying to the Netherlands to participate in the Allied Summit. “There is a problem with Spain. Spain does not agree, this is very unfair to the rest,” he said, in reference to the resistance of the government presidentOr, Pedro Sánchez, to accept the new expenditure bar of 5% of GDP by 2035 that Trump is promoting.
The president also launched an explicit threat: stop protecting those countries that do not commit to the threshold.
incompatible with the welfare state
In the graph shared by Trump, it is noted that Pedro Sánchez, considers that a 5% increase would be “Incompatible with the welfare state” Spanish. Sánchez remains reluctant to the new proposal led by NATO general secretary, Mark Rutte, who proposes to raise military spending to 3.5% of GDP plus other additional 1.5% destined for broader security.
According to the image data, Spain is the country that spends the least in defense within the 32 members of the Alliance, together with Slovenia, Luxembourg and Belgium. This position has generated a strong diplomatic pressure from Washington, which sees a more equitable distribution of military charge.
