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9h ago

Spain Rejects 5% Defense Spending Target Ahead of NATO Summit

Madrid’s refusal to meet President Trump’s 5% GDP defense requirement complicates pre-summit negotiations in The Hague.

FILE- President Donald Trump, center, stops to talk with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, left, and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, as they attend a meeting of the North Atlantic Council during a summit of heads of state and government at NATO headquarters in Brussels on July 11, 2018.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics gestures as he speaks during interview in Riga, Latvia June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
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Overview

  • President Trump has demanded that NATO allies raise defense budgets to 5% of GDP, split between 3.5% for military capacity and 1.5% for infrastructure and cyber investments.
  • Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the 5% goal unreasonable and counterproductive in a letter to Secretary-General Mark Rutte, noting Spain currently spends about 1.3% of GDP on defense.
  • Ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Friday left talks without a breakthrough as Rutte seeks a compromise to secure a spending deal before the June 24-25 summit.
  • Belgium, Canada, France and Italy have also indicated they may struggle to meet the proposed 5% threshold, casting doubt on full alliance-wide endorsement.
  • Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles affirmed Madrid’s “total” commitment to NATO even as Sánchez pushes for a more flexible formula and accelerated compliance with the existing 2% target.