Spain hit back at Donald Trump on Friday, October 10, after the U.S. president Donald Trump suggested expelling the country from NATO for failing to meet his ramped-up defence spending target.
In June, the 32-nation military alliance agreed to massively boost defence spending to 5% of annual economic output over the next decade under pressure from Trump. But Spain—which made NATO’s lowest relative defence investment (proportionate to its size) last year—insisted it would not need to hit the headline figure.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, October:
We had one laggard, it was Spain…. They have no excuse not to do this, but that’s all right. Maybe you should throw them out of NATO, frankly.
Beleaguered Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has argued that Spain should meet its capacity objectives rather than fixed spending targets, including cybersecurity and the environment in his calculations. The Spanish opposition pounced on the stir caused by Trump’s remarks to criticise Sánchez late on October 9.
By October 10, government sources were claiming that “Spain is a committed and full member of NATO. And it meets its capacity targets as much as the United States.”
The main conservative opposition leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the Popular Party, replied on X that
Spain is a credible, proud member and committed to NATO. And we will remain so. The problem is Sánchez.
He can’t be trusted, but that should not hold the country back. Our nation should not have to pay for his frivolity and irresponsibility,
Right-wing leader Santiago Abascal, who heads Spain’s third-largest political force VOX, said on X that Sánchez “further destroys national interests and seriously harms our security”.
