Spain’s refusal to comply triggered trade threats from the United States.
While on the campaign trail last year, Donald Trump infamously quipped that “everybody’s gotta pay.” It was a reference to NATO members meeting defense spending obligations, and in The Hague this week, alliance members agreed to increase defense spending to five percent of their nations’ gross domestic product (GDP). Trump, who has remained critical of NATO since returning to the White House in January, called the move a “big win for Europe and… Western civilization.”
In a joint announcement, NATO members agreed to meet the five percent commitment by 2035, with 3.5 percent of their respective GDP allocated to defense requirements. Additionally, the alliance countries will provide 1.5 percent of GDP annually towards NATO’s critical infrastructure and industry.
“The trajectory and balance of spending under this plan will be reviewed in 2029, in light of the strategic environment and updated Capability Targets,” the alliance explained. In addition, NATO has reaffirmed its support for Ukraine, which will include “direct contributions towards” its defense.
“Together, Allies have laid the foundations for a stronger, fairer, more lethal NATO,” said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during the closing press conference. “These decisions will have a profound impact on our ability to do what NATO was founded to do: deter and defend.”
Trump Wants NATO to Arm Itself with American Weapons
President Trump also took the opportunity to tout American military platforms while calling for the rebuilding of the United States’ defense industrial base, which has been in decline over recent decades.
“It’s vital that this additional money be spent on severe military hardware, not bureaucracy, and hopefully that hardware is going to be made in America because we have the best hardware in the world,” Trump said.
The United States remains the largest seller of military hardware, and according to data from Statista, the US accounts for 43 percent of all global arms exports between 2020 and 2024, significantly exceeding second-place France, which had 9.6 percent of the market.
Spain Refuses to Meet the Defense Spending Quota
The only severe crack in the alliance came even before the summit began when Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that his nation would not raise its defense spending to the required five percent, having called the two percent goal “sufficient, realistic and compatible with the welfare state.”
An exemption had been previously reached by the alliance, only for Trump to suggest that Madrid could “pay twice as much” in any trade deal.
“We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal, and we’re going to make them pay twice as much, and I’m serious about that. I like Spain… it’s a great place and they are great people, but Spain is the only country out of all of the countries that refuses to pay,” the US president told reporters.
Spain, which officially joined NATO as its 16th member on May 30, 1982, does not meet the current two percent threshold that members were expected to meet. However, Spain, which is far from Russia and flanked by other NATO members, including Portugal and France, is not considered a major military powerhouse within the alliance.
It should be noted that, apart from its bloody Civil War in the late 1930s, the last large-scale conflict involving the Spanish military was the Rif War, fought against the Berber tribes in the former Spanish colony of Morocco. The last time Spain fought a war with a significant power was with the United States in 1898.
Spain was among the NATO members that responded to the 9/11 attacks, and approximately 30,000 Spanish military personnel were deployed to Afghanistan between January 2002 and October 2015, while a smaller number remained as part of the “Resolute Support” mission, which ended in the spring of 2021.
Perhaps in protest to the calls for the five percent spike in defense spending, Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez stood off to the side of the traditional “family photo” of national leaders at the summit.
The next NATO Summit is planned for 2026 and will be held in Turkey.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a thirty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
Image Credit: Shutterstock/Victor Velter.
