Helsinki [Finland], October 10: At a White House meeting with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on October 9, President Trump said European leaders need to convince Spain, "the only latecomer" in the alliance, to increase its commitment to NATO , according to Reuters
In June, most NATO members supported a proposal to increase military spending to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP), realizing Mr. Trump 's priority .
However, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the time said he would not commit to a 5% spending target because it was "not in line with Spain's welfare state model and world vision." The leader said Madrid would only increase its defense budget to 2.1% of GDP from the current 2%, claiming an exemption.
"You're going to have to start talking to Spain. You need to call them and find out why they're slow. They have no excuse not to do this (increase defense spending), but that's okay. Frankly, maybe you should kick them out of NATO ," Trump told Stubb.
Spain, which joined NATO in 1982, is now one of the lowest military spenders in NATO, relative to the size of its economy.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly left open the possibility of not protecting European countries that refuse to spend more on defense and has also threatened trade sanctions against Spain for refusing to pay the 5% target.
This includes 3.5% for core defense and 1.5% for related areas such as infrastructure and cybersecurity. In 2014, NATO set a military spending target of 2%.
According to Euractiv , ambassadors of NATO members are scheduled to meet in Brussels (Belgium) on October 15 to assess progress in implementing spending commitments. There, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to urge parties to act faster.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
