Trump 'was thinking' about punishing Spain on trade for NATO defense spending row
'I'm very unhappy with Spain. They're the only country that didn't raise their number up to 5%,' says US president
WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump blasted Spain on Tuesday for its NATO contribution, and warned of possible tariffs.
"I'm very unhappy with Spain. They're the only country that didn't raise their number up to 5% ... so I'm not happy with Spain," Trump told reporters at the White House, alongside Argentinian President Javier Milei.
Trump said he thinks what Spain "did is a very bad thing for NATO. I think it's very unfair to NATO."
Trump had singled out Spain for its rejection of a 5% NATO defense spending guideline that he pushed the alliance to adopt, suggesting that the Western European nation should be expelled from the alliance.
"I think what they did is not nice. I think it's very disrespectful to NATO. In fact, I was thinking about giving them trade punishment through tariffs because of what they did ... I think unbelievably disrespectful ...I think they should be punished for that," he added.
At a NATO summit in The Hague, allies made a commitment to investing 5% of annual GDP on core defense requirements and defense and security-related spending by 2035.
