But Sánchez asked for a carve-out, arguing Madrid doesn’t need to spend as much money to fulfill the duties required by NATO. At the time, Trump had threatened to make Spain pay “twice as much” in tariffs.
Madrid has the lowest military spending of any NATO member country, allocating just 1.3 percent of its GDP to defense in 2024. However, unlike what the U.S. president claims, only a few NATO allies such as Poland currently do spend 5 percent of their GDPs on defense. Under the alliance pledge, they have until 2035 to reach the target.
“I think it’s unbelievably disrespectful,” Trump added. “And I think they should be punished for that. Yes, I do.”
Sánchez vowed in April to hike Spain’s defense spending to 2 percent of GDP by the end of 2025 to meet an earlier NATO goal under pressure from Brussels and Washington — but that still falls far short of Trump’s latest demand of 5 percent.
Dating back to his first term in office, the American president has expressed anger at NATO countries he feels are underspending on defense and has demanded the alliance’s members ramp up their military investments.
Trump even raised the matter at the Gaza ceasefire signing ceremony in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on Monday. While addressing world leaders, Trump asked if the NATO leaders in attendance were “working” on Sánchez “with respect to the GDP.”
