At yesterday\u2019s Nato summit in The Hague, all but one of the 32 leaders agreed to increase their defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP as President Trump has been demanding. The exception was Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez. His insistence that actually 2.1 per cent will be enough has enraged President Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump described the Nato summit\u2019s achievements as \u2018tremendous\u2019, celebrating its recognition of the need for other Nato members to take up the burden of the defence of Europe. He added that \u2018it was 2 per cent [of GDP] and we\u2019ve got it up to 5 per cent\u2019. But he had harsh words for Spain, describing the country as \u2018terrible\u2019 and threatening to use trade tariffs \u2018to make them [Spain] pay twice as much\u2019.<\/p>\n
\nSpain\u2019s left-wing politicians seem delighted with Trump\u2019s displeasure <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
This confrontation has been brewing for months. Ever since Trump\u2019s re-election, S\u00e1nchez has been positioning himself as a leading opponent of the US President. Indeed Spain\u2019s socialist prime minister and his supporters have repeatedly\u00a0suggested<\/a>\u00a0that Trump\u2019s victory in the US elections is confirmation of a sinister surge in global far-right extremism that embraces Brexit, Orban, Meloni,\u00a0Wilders, Bolsonaro, Milei and is also increasingly evident in France and Germany.<\/p>\n
For S\u00e1nchez it\u2019s a dangerous, world-wide threat that he\u2019s called upon to counter. He and his ministers seem to regard it as their mission to lead the struggle against an erosion of democracy and exultation of xenophobia of which, they say, Trump is the most powerful exponent. Presenting<\/a> themselves as the heirs of the noble republicans who fought against General Franco in the civil war (1936-1939), Spain\u2019s socialists feel that they are especially well-placed to understand and combat this \u2018fascist threat\u2019.<\/p>\n