Donald Trump at the NATO summit in The Hague.
Credit: Screenshot Twitter@WhiteHouse
Things were going relatively calmly for Spain at the high-stakes NATO summit in The Hague.
And then, Donald Trump took the microphone.
The U.S. president launched a direct attack on Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, threatening retaliation for the country’s refusal to meet the new 5% defence spending target agreed upon by other NATO members.
“You’re the only country that is not paying. I don’t know what the problem is,” Trump said, before adding: “It’s terrible what they’ve done. They’re the only country that won’t pay the full, they want to stay at 2%.”
Donald Trump: “Spain is going to pay TWICE as much!”
Spain is, in fact, the only NATO nation not aligning with the new defence spending demands.
Sánchez’s government maintains that increasing military spending beyond 2.1% of GDP would come at the expense of Spain’s welfare state. But Trump wasn’t buying it.
“You know, we’re going to do it, 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 declared, escalating what had been a quietly brewing diplomatic dispute into open conflict.
Trump’s trade threats
The U.S. president didn’t specifically use the word “tariffs,” but his meaning was crystal clear, especially with the July 9 deadline for sweeping U.S. tariffs on the EU fast approaching.
“They’re going to pay, they’ll pay more money this way,” Trump said bluntly.
Trump didn’t stop there — he issued a warning about the potential fallout: “Spain’s economy is doing very well, and that economy could be blown right out of the water with something bad happening.”
Pedro Sánchez’s response: “Spain is the solution, never the problem!”
Despite Trump’s harsh words, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez remained defiant, using a press conference to justify Spain’s stance.
“If we had accepted the 5%, Spain would have had to allocate an extra €300 billion to defence between now and 2035. Where would that come from? From cuts to healthcare and education,” he said.
Sánchez appeared calm and even satisfied, claiming a victory in securing flexibility for Spain’s defence commitments. “After this summit, NATO wins, Spain wins, and security and the welfare state win,” he said. “Spain is always the solution, never the problem.”
Tensions between Madrid and Washington
Tensions between Trump and Sánchez were also visible on a personal level.
The two leaders didn’t exchange greetings at the summit. “I didn’t have the chance to greet him or exchange a few words,” Sánchez said.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also took aim at Spain’s government. “Spain right now has deep internal political challenges. They have a left-of-center government that basically wants to spend very little to anything on military. And they’ve been recalcitrant,” Rubio said.
In a last word of warning, Trump insisted: “I’m going to negotiate directly with Spain. I’m going to do it myself.”
As NATO allies try to move on, most are accepting Spain’s lower contribution. But with Trump trade threats on the table, the tensions between Madrid and Washington are unlikely to disappear anytime soon.
