President Donald Trump fumed about Spain’s ‘terrible’ decision to refuse to raise NATO military spending and issued a threat to the nation.
‘I think it’s terrible,’ Trump said, asked at his NATO conference whether he was satisfied with Spain’s stance.
With Spain gaining notoriety as the lone holdout to the defense boost, Trump threatened to come down hard in trade talks after his tariffs rattled financial markets around the globe.
‘And you know, they doing very well. The economy is very well, and that economy could be blown right out of the water with something bad happening,’ he said, delivering a not-so-subtle warning.
Allied leaders have a greed to move toward a commitment for each nation to spend 5 percent of its Gross Domestic Product on military capabilities – amid heightened threats in Europe and around the world.
Trump had long pushed for allied nations to meet a lower 2 percent threshold, and earned praise from NATO Sec. Gen. Mark Rutte, who credited him with leading the charge and even called him ‘daddy.’
‘Congratulations. You’re the only country that is not paying,’ Trump snarled when asked about the hot topic by a Spanish reporter.
Then he threatened to hit Spain where it hurts.
‘We’re going to make them pay twice as much. And I’m actually serious about that. We’re going to make Spain – I like Spain. I have so many people from Spain that it’s a great place, and they’re great people, but Spain is the only country out of all of the countries, that refuses to pay.’
He accused the country of getting a ‘little bit of a free ride.’
‘But they’ll have to pay it back to us on trade, because I’m not going to let that happen. It’s unfair. It’s unfair,’ he said.
Spain is one of a skein of countries that Trump slapped his ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on, with a July 9 deadline looming after he put in place a ‘pause.’
Spain has argued to be exempted from Trump’s tariffs on the European Union. The American Chamber of Commerce in Spain has cited its ‘unique position as a country that maintains a trade deficit with the United States’ – in part due to imports of US energy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It’s association with the bloc of 27 nations could hamper Trump’s ability to hit Spain through trade. Those nations go through the European Commission, and apply to the entire trading bloc.
When Trump fielded a second question from a Spanish reporter, he made it clear he was taking the issue personally.
‘I’m going to negotiate directly with Spain. I’m going to do it myself. They’re going to pay. They’ll pay more money this way. You should tell them to go back and pay,’ he told the reporter.
‘They ought to join all of those countries that are paying 5 percent. Spain is going to be just about the only one that’s not. They were the most hostile toward doing it. It just doesn’t make sense to me,’ Trump said.
The NATO allies, having struggled for years to reach a 2 percent commitment, signed off on a 5 percent target by 2035, in what would add billions of dollars to defense capabilities.
Reuters reported that Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez said earlier that his country would meet NATO capabilities targets, while calling its current 2 percent spending ‘sufficient, realistic and compatible with the welfare state.’
Spain had asked to opt out of the commitment, and thanked other members for showing ‘respect to Spain’s sovereignty.’
The comments on trade and defense came as leaders agreed on their ‘ironclad commitment’ to come to each other’s aid while announcing the new 5 precent target.
Trump, who flew to Europe Monday night for the quick trip, called NATO leaders a ‘nice group of people,’ adding that said ‘almost every one of them said `thank God for the United States.´’
Leaders also huddled about the state of security amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. Trump indicated he was considering sending more Patriot missiles to boost Ukraine’s defenses – while noting that the U.S. has its own needs. And he said Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘really has to end that war.’
