WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that NATO should consider removing Spain from the alliance for failing to meet his new defence spending target.
During a meeting at the White House with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Trump reiterated his demand that NATO members allocate 5 percent of GDP to defence — a sharp increase from the long-standing 2 percent benchmark. All allies agreed to the target at a June summit except Spain, which declined to commit.
“We had one laggard — Spain,” Trump said. “You have to call them and find out why they are a laggard. They’re doing fine, they have no excuse. Maybe you should throw them out of NATO, frankly.”
The president praised Finland for boosting its military budget, crediting the move to the country’s response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “You were great about it. Spain has not been,” he told Stubb.
According to NATO figures, Spain remains one of the alliance’s lowest spenders, allocating less than 1.2 percent of GDP to defence in 2023. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has maintained that spending 2.1 percent of GDP would be sufficient to meet his country’s defence commitments.
“I requested they pay 5 percent, not 2 percent,” Trump said. “Most people thought that wasn’t going to happen — and it happened virtually unanimously.”
