The U.S. president said he would make Spain pay the contribution difference through trade.
THE HAGUE—U.S. President Donald Trump has accused Spain of wanting a “free ride” after it refused to agree to the 5 percent of GDP defense spending target set at the NATO summit on Wednesday, and has threatened to punish Madrid through trade.
During a question-and-answer session after he made a speech at the summit in The Hague on Wednesday, Trump was asked by a Spanish journalist if he was satisfied with Spain’s contribution to NATO.
Trump replied, “It’s terrible what they’ve done. They’re the only country that won’t pay the full amount. They want to stay at 2 percent. I think it’s terrible.”
On June 22, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he had reached a deal with NATO.
“Spain will, therefore, not spend 5 percent of its GDP on defense, but its participation, weight, and legitimacy in NATO remain intact,” he said.
Spain spent 1.28 percent, according to NATO estimates, on military expenditure in 2024, making it the alliance’s lowest spender, but Sanchez said it would increase to 2.1 percent.
Trump said the Spanish economy was “doing very well” but that it could be “blown out of the water” if something bad happened to it.
Then he told the Spanish journalist, “You know what we’re going to do? We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal, we’re going to make them pay twice as much, and I’m actually serious about that.”
Trump said he liked Spain and the Spanish people but that he felt Sanchez’s government was not acting fairly.
Trump: ‘It’s Unfair’
“Spain is the only country, out of all of the countries, that refuses to pay; they want a little bit of a free ride, but they have to pay it back to us on trade, because I’m not going to let that happen. It’s unfair,” Trump said.
Later, another Spanish journalist asked Trump whether he planned to negotiate directly with Spain.
“I’m going to negotiate directly with Spain. I’m going to do it myself. They’re going to pay, they’ll pay more money this way,” he replied.
