Trump Considers Punishing Spain
According to the English section of webangah News Agency,citing Reuters via Mehr News Agency,U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Spain for refusing to raise its defense spending to five percent of GDP and warned Madrid of possible trade penalties, including tariffs.
Trump told reporters, “I am not happy with Spain at all. They are the only country that has not reached five percent [defense budget].For that reason, I’m unhappy with Spain.”
He added, “I am considering punishing them through tariffs becuase of what they’ve done, and I think I will do just that.”
Trump has repeatedly urged NATO members to increase their defense budgets and threatened that Washington would withhold support in critical situations if these increases are not met. Last week, during a meeting with Finland’s president, he said NATO is considering expelling Spain due to its failure to fulfill new commitments.
NATO members argue that the previous pledge-to allocate two percent of GDP for defense-is no longer sufficient following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
At that time, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez secured a last-minute exemption for his country, committing Madrid to spend only 2.1 percent on defense while emphasizing this level is “sufficient and realistic.”
Spain joined NATO in 1982 and has stated it will compensate for this exemption by deploying substantially more troops on NATO missions in Latvia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey.
