US President Donald Trump threatened Spain with a trade war in a press conference at the end of the NATO summit in The Hague on Wednesday.
He was speaking after the NATO leaders – all 32 of the Alliance leaders, including Spain – issued a joint declaration committing to significantly boost defence spending following pressure from the United States, and reaffirming their ‘ironclad commitment’ to defend one another in the event of an attack. ALSO READ: NATO leaders agree to increase spending and reiterate ‘ironclad commitment’ to collective defence.
Ahead of the summit, however, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had said that Spain would not be able to hit the 5% of GDP target 2035 deadline, describing it as ‘unreasonable’ and ‘incompatible with our worldview’.
At a press conference after the summit, Trump said: ‘We’re going to make them [Spain] pay double.’
‘They’ll have to pay us in trade,’ he added, ‘because I’m not going to allow that to happen.’
‘What Spain is doing is terrible, and we’re going to make them pay,’ said Trump.
The US president criticised the agreement between Sánchez and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (see letter below). ALSO READ: Spain reaches deal with NATO to be excluded from 5% defence spending goal.
‘They’re the only country that won’t pay the full amount; they want to stay at 2%. I think it’s terrible. You know, they’re doing very well, the economy is doing very well, and that economy could disappear in a flash if something bad happened,’ said Trump.
‘I don’t know what the problem is,’ he said. ‘I think it’s a shame. So we’ll make up for it, we’re going to. We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal, and we’re going to make them pay double. I mean it. We’re going to force Spain. I like Spain, it’s a great place, and they’re great people. But Spain is the only country, of all countries, that refuses to pay.’
When asked if he was going to negotiate directly with Spain, he replied: ‘I’ll do it myself.’
‘They’re going to pay more money this way,’ said Trump. ‘They should join all those countries that are paying 5%. Spain is going to be pretty much the only one. They were the most hostile toward me. It just doesn’t make sense to me.’
On board Air Force One and on his way to the NATO summit on Tuesday, Trump had said that there’s ‘always a problem with Spain’, in reference to the country not agreeing to spend 5% of its GDP on defence. ‘Spain is not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them, frankly,’ he said. ALSO READ: Donald Trump on way to NATO summit: ‘There’s always a problem with Spain’.
In his own press conference at the end of the NATO summit, Sánchez said: ‘Spain is always the solution, never the problem.’
He said after the summit that Spain will meet the new capabilities targets agreed by NATO members, but it considers its current defence spending of 2% of gross domestic product as ‘sufficient, realistic and compatible with the welfare state’.
‘In today’s summit, NATO wins and Spain wins something very important for our society, which is security and the welfare state,’ Sánchez said, insisting that Madrid would uphold its commitments to the alliance while thanking the allies for showing ‘respect to Spain’s sovereignty’.
‘I hope that in tomorrow’s European Council in Brussels, we’ll talk less about percentages of GDP and more about joint production, joint purchases and interoperability,’ he added.
📺 TV en DIRECTO | Sánchez, en alusión a las declaraciones de Trump: “España es siempre la solución, nunca es el problema” https://t.co/XIksTD50OT pic.twitter.com/fkfu9T0ssE
— EL PAÍS (@el_pais) June 25, 2025
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Donald Trump: “Me gusta mucho España, pero creo que es injusto que no paguen. Voy a negociar directamente con España y van a pagar”
▶#Canal24horas: https://t.co/0Ix6dDs3KF pic.twitter.com/XnOAHMk2Dh
— RTVE Noticias (@rtvenoticias) June 25, 2025
📺Trump sobre España: “Es terrible lo que han hecho. No sé cuál es el problema. Lo compensaremos. Estamos negociando con España un acuerdo comercial. Vamos a hacer que paguen el doble. Si quieren ir por libre, tendrán que devolvérnoslo en el comercio, porque no lo voy a permitir” pic.twitter.com/yQEzkU5Gem
— EL PAÍS (@el_pais) June 25, 2025
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