Spain struggles to meet NATO defense target, as Trump demands huge additional spending

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00:00Since his first term at the Oval Office, President Donald Trump has whined and warned NATO countries

00:06to put up their fair share in splitting the cost.

00:08Now with more experience and knowledge in getting things done at home and in foreign policy,

00:13President Donald Trump has Spain in his crosshairs

00:16for still coming up short in its NATO arrears, as VOA's Henry Ridgewell reports.

00:23Spain is the Eurozone's fourth biggest economy,

00:27but it's bottom of the league when it comes to defence spending in the 32-nation NATO alliance.

00:33Madrid spent an estimated $21.3 billion on defence last year, 1.28% of its gross domestic product,

00:43despite a 2014 NATO pledge to spend at least 2%.

00:49NATO's Secretary-General Mark Rutte travelled to Spain and Portugal this week and gave this warning.

00:56The goal of 2% now set a decade ago will not be enough to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

01:03The threat from Russia may seem distant, but let me assure you, it is not.

01:09Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Spain is committed to reaching the 2% target by 2029.

01:17He said that defence spending had increased by 70% over the past decade,

01:22and Madrid was the 10th largest NATO contributor in absolute terms.

01:27Spanish troops are also helping to train Ukrainian forces as Kiev battles Russia's invasion.

01:34But that's unlikely to satisfy NATO's biggest spender, the United States,

01:39which spent 3.38% of its GDP on defence in 2024.

01:45President Donald Trump this month described Spain's contribution to NATO as very low

01:51and is demanding a much higher target.

01:54I'm also going to ask all NATO nations to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP,

02:00which is what it should have been years ago.

02:03Trump has long complained that European allies are taking advantage of the United States

02:09and says they should share the burden of defence spending.

02:13But the 5% target is unrealistic for Spain, according to analyst Pere Ortega.

02:19Reaching 5% is impossible.

02:23That would mean that Spain would have to spend almost 65 billion euros.

02:28That is impossible because we do not have that economic capacity.

02:33That would be in some way making sacrifices in the sphere of social security,

02:38and the Spanish population would penalise that with their vote at the polls.

02:43Trump does have some support in Europe.

02:46Lithuania announced plans this month to raise defence spending to 5 or 6% of GDP by 2026.

02:55We are fitting in with NATO defence plans, which are vital to our region.

03:00At his first NATO summit as US president in 2017,

03:05Donald Trump berated allies for failing to spend enough on defence.

03:10European allies, in particular Spain,

03:12are braced for further demands at the next summit due to be held in The Hague in June.

03:18Henry Ridgewell, VOA News.

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