Trump says Spain is a "problem" when it comes to defense spending

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized the Spanish government's resistance to investing 5% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in defense, as agreed by the other NATO leaders ahead of the summit in The Hague. "There's a problem with Spain. Spain doesn't agree, which is very unfair to the rest of the NATO leaders," he said aboard Air Force One while en route to the NATO leaders' meeting, which begins tonight in the Dutch city.

The tycoon will meet with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the ceremonial dinner hosted by the King and Queen of the Netherlands, which will formally open the summit in The Hague. After much pressure, both public and private, Sánchez agreed to sign the declaration advocating for a 5% defense spending target, but only after ensuring the wording was sufficiently ambiguous and after receiving a letter from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, offering him "flexibility" to decide how to implement the Alliance's military commitments.

The face to face No bilateral meetings between Trump and Sánchez are planned in The Hague.

Trump also questioned his commitment to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, the mutual defense clause between allies. He argued, "There are many definitions of Article 5." "But I'm committed to being their friends. You know, I've become friends with many of these leaders, and I'm committed to helping them," he told reporters traveling with him on the plane.

Later, when asked about the meaning of his words, he clarified that he is "committed to saving lives." "I'll give you a precise definition (of Article 5) when I get it. I just don't want to do it in the back of an airplane," he added.

With these words aboard Air Force One, Trump has referred to Spanish military investment for the second time in a week, after saying last Friday that NATO "would have to deal" with Spain's low military spending. For the time being, according to sources at the Moncloa, no bilateral meeting is planned between Sánchez and the Republican at a summit in The Hague, which could be the stage for a public rebuke from the magnate against the Socialist. Trump has also said he looks forward to speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is invited to attend tonight's dinner.

"That's Trump's opinion," they responded at the Moncloa Palace. "We are not going to clash with the US. We are doing everything possible to avoid a clash with Trump and save the NATO summit. Our intention is not to offend the US or any ally," the same government sources continued, noting that "in recent days there have been diplomatic contacts at the highest level with the US. Our firm intention is not to torpedo or block the NATO summit, where decisions are made unanimously."

Unexpectedly, Sánchez has become one of the key figures at the Hague summit. He is likely to attract a lot of attention after refusing to comply with the new commitment of 5% in military investment, broken down, according to the metrics proposed by Rutte, into 3.5% for traditional military investment and another 1.5% for related expenditures. The main fear is a humiliation similar to that suffered by Zelensky or South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office.

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To meet the Alliance's military commitments, the Spanish government believes it only needs to invest 2.1% of GDP, something Rutte has taken note of, despite disagreeing and denying that he has forged a "parallel agreement" with Spain to make an exception in this regard.

“The fact is that Spain believes it can meet these targets with 2.1%. NATO is absolutely convinced that Spain will have to spend 3.5% to reach that target,” Rutte said yesterday when asked about the matter. He warned: “Each country will report periodically on what it is doing in terms of spending and achieving the targets. So we'll see. And, in any case, there will be a review in 2029.”