Trump Slams Spain’s Defence Spending Ahead of NATO Summit in The Hague

U.S. President Donald Trump has criticised Spain’s military spending as inadequate, ahead of a key NATO summit set to begin in The Hague.

Speaking to reporters aboard his flight from Washington to Europe, Trump described Spain’s low defence expenditure as “unfair” to other NATO allies. He also posted a chart on his social media platform, Truth Social, highlighting member states’ defence budgets—Spain appeared at the bottom of the list.

Trump said the issue would be on his agenda for talks with NATO leaders during the summit.

Member states are expected on Wednesday to adopt a new commitment to raise annual defence spending to at least 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035. The proposed breakdown allocates 3.5% to traditional military expenditure and 1.5% to related costs such as infrastructure and cyber capabilities.

The proposed increase has faced resistance from several member countries. Spain, which currently lags in defence spending, has publicly rejected the target, calling it “not only unreasonable but even counterproductive.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte revealed that Madrid has promised to meet the alliance’s capability goals with less than the 3.5% defence allocation. However, Rutte stated that NATO remains confident Spain will eventually need to align with the new 5% spending framework to meet alliance requirements.