President Donald Trump tore into Spain over its refusal to adhere to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) new 5% defense spending target during a press conference Wednesday.
“They’re the only country that won’t pay up, they want to stay at 2%,” said Trump. “I think it’s terrible. And you know, they’re doing very well, the economy.” Trump said that as a result of Spain’s refusal, the U.S. was negotiating a trade deal with Spain where “we’re going to make them pay twice as much.”
“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.”
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The president added that he would negotiate directly with Spain to convince them to agree to the 5% threshold.
Spain has quickly become NATO’s biggest headache as it has moved to get serious about boosting defense spending in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
At the 11th hour of negotiations on a new target, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez insisted his country could not meet the 5% target and demanded a carveout in an agreement on the spending goal. His nation has struggled to even meet the 2% target.
“Spain is threatening NATO unity that has lasted since 1949,” one European official told Fox News Digital. “This isn’t some a la carte menu to pick and choose from. Spain is always asking for solidarity and assistance — 2008 financial crisis, COVID — and has received it.”
The official said U.S. officials were pushing Spain behind the scenes and asked European allies to apply pressure as well. “The U.S. didn’t want it to escalate to the level of Trump.”
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A commitment agreed to by NATO leaders gave allies 10 years to boost spending to 3.5% on core defense and 1.5% on defense-related expenditures like cyberwarfare and intelligence.
Slovakia also raised concerns about the new spending targets but ultimately said it would not stand in the way of the new agreement.
French President Emmanuel Macron took issue with Europe acquiescing to Trump’s spending demands while being under tariff threat. “We can’t say to each other, among allies, we need to spend more… and wage trade war against one another, it makes no sense.”
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said allies understood the threats facing its alliance and were “united in understanding that we need to step up to stay safe.”
The momentum behind the defense boost comes after Trump has waffled about whether the U.S. would commit to Article 5, the NATO treaty’s collective defense pact, if European nations did not step up for their own defense.
When asked Wednesday where he was on Article 5, Trump said, “I stand with it. That’s why I’m here. If I didn’t stand with it I wouldn’t be here.”
On Tuesday, his tone was less clear.
“It depends on your definition,” Trump said. “I’m committed to being their friend.”
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