Trump suggests expelling Spain from NATO
Friday, October 10th 2025 – 20:14 UTC
Spain is the one laggard having no excuse for this resistance, Trump argued
US President Donald Trump suggested that Spain should be expelled from NATO for failing to commit to the alliance’s newly increased defense spending target.
Speaking in the Oval Office alongside Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Trump boasted that he secured an almost unanimous commitment from NATO members at the June summit to raise their defense spending target to 5% of GDP annually by 2035, and singled out Spain as the one laggard having no excuse for this resistance. Maybe you should throw them out of NATO, frankly, Trump explicitly mentioned.
The new 5% target replaces the alliance’s former 2% goal, breaking down into 3.5% for core defense and 1.5% for areas like infrastructure and cybersecurity. Spain currently allocates the lowest share of GDP to defense among NATO members, at around 1.2% to 1.3%.
In Madrid, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pointed out that he secured an exemption for his country, whereby it would not need to meet the 5% threshold. Spain proposed a more modest target of 2.1% of GDP by the end of the year. Sánchez further stated that any greater spending increase would necessitate hundreds of millions in cuts to public services. Spain is a member of NATO in full right and is committed to NATO. It fulfills its targets just as the US does, insisted the head of Government.
In addition, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles had previously dismissed the 5% target as absolutely impossible, arguing that European defense industries lack the necessary skilled labor and raw materials to expand production to meet such a demand.
Despite Trump’s pressure on allies, US contributions to NATO as a percentage of GDP have actually fallen over the past decade (from 3.7% to 3.2% of GDP from 2014 to 2024). However, the US remains by far the alliance’s largest contributor, spending nearly double the rest of the treaty members combined.