Spain refuses to raise defense spending to 5% - Trump threatens punishment
Photo: Donald Trump, President of the United States (Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump said that Spain should be punished for failing to raise its defense spending to 5%, as he remarked while speaking to journalists at the White House.
The US president emphasized that Madrid’s actions were "very bad for NATO" and "incredibly disrespectful." He announced plans to impose new trade tariffs on Spain as a form of punishment.
"I'm very unhappy with Spain. They're the only country that didn't raise up their number to 5%. Every other country in NATO raised up to 5%. And Spain is doing very well off our backs. So, I'm not happy with Spain. uh Spain gets protection and they know, you know, look, they're sort of in the semi-middle of it. So, they're going to get protected automatically. Even if you don't want to protect him, you're protecting them because of the way they're located," Trump noted.
According to Trump, this situation is very unfair toward NATO.
The US president said he had considered imposing trade penalties on Spain through tariffs, and might still go ahead with that decision.
Trump's unwilled to defend Spain
At the same time, he stressed that he was ready to defend Finland if "Russia and Putin" were to attack it.
Spain sharply rejected the idea. Government sources in Madrid stated that the country remains "a committed and full member of NATO," achieving its capability targets on par with the United States.
In June, Trump reiterated that the United States remains committed to the principle of collective defense, including Article 5 of the NATO Charter.
