Can a country actually be expelled from NATO, as Trump suggests?
The answer is no. Credit: miss.cabul / Shuttertstock.com
US President Donald Trump declared on Thursday, Otober 9, that Spain “should be expelled from NATO”, criticising Madrid’s role in the Alliance during a meeting with Finnish President Alexander Stubb in the Oval Office.
“They have no excuse for not doing it. Maybe they should be kicked out of NATO, frankly,” Trump said, referring to member states’ defence spending. “I asked for 5 per cent, not 2 per cent, and most thought it wouldn’t happen — but it was approved almost unanimously,” he added.
But can a country actually be expelled from NATO, as Trump suggests?
The answer is no
The North Atlantic Treaty, signed in 1949, includes no mechanism for expelling a member state. What it does allow is voluntary withdrawal, as outlined in Article 13: any member may leave one year after notifying the United States, which must then inform other allies. Beyond that, there is no clause that would allow any nation — including the US — to force another out.
The Spanish government has so far avoided a direct confrontation with Washington. On Friday, government sources simply reaffirmed that Spain “is a full and committed NATO member” and “meets its capability targets just as the United States does.” Officials declined to speculate whether the US might increase diplomatic pressure to push Madrid into higher military spending, but highlighted Spain’s extensive participation in NATO missions, particularly along the alliance’s eastern flank against the Russian threat.
That commitment was reaffirmed earlier this year when NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez exchanged letters granting Spain “flexibility to determine its own sovereign path” as long as it met its agreed defence capabilities.
A figure Trump dismisses as insufficient
Those capability targets — classified for security reasons — are reviewed every four years. The current framework, valid until 2029, focuses on cyberwarfare, hybrid threats and disinformation, alongside deterrence on the eastern front. Spain believes it can meet these objectives while spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence — a figure Trump dismisses as insufficient.
Trump has long argued that the US should not defend allies who “don’t spend enough” on defence, often implying that higher spending should involve buying American weapons. However, he had never before openly suggested expelling a NATO member, a proposal that challenges the very foundation of the transatlantic alliance.
Cooler relations
Bilateral relations between Washington and Madrid have cooled since Trump returned to office in January, after flourishing under Joe Biden. In one of the few official contacts since then, Spanish Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo met US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in April. The American readout was blunt: Bessent urged Spain to raise defence spending within NATO and reiterated opposition to Spain’s digital services tax and other trade barriers.
A “waste of billions”
Sánchez, meanwhile, rejected the idea of spending 5 per cent of GDP on defence as a “waste of billions”, estimating it would cost workers around €3,000 annually in extra taxes. While he has pledged to continue increasing spending — from 0.9 per cent of GDP in 2018 to 1.4 per cent in 2024 and a projected 2 per cent this year — he argued that 5 per cent would be “disproportionate and unnecessary.”
Spain’s contribution to NATO operations is far from negligible. Around 800 Spanish troops are deployed along the Alliance’s eastern border, including a 350-strong contingent in Latvia, Eurofighter jets in Bulgaria, and a Patriot missile battery in Turkey. The Spanish Navy also serves in NATO’s permanent maritime forces in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, while Spain hosts key NATO command centres in Valencia, Madrid, and Rota — providing vital strategic reach in any potential conflict.
