Spain rejects Trump's Nato spending demands ahead of summit

Telegraph

6 hours ago

Spain has rejected Donald Trump's 'unreasonable' demand that Nato members increase defence spending, throwing plans for a summit of alliance leaders into disarray.
Next week's meeting in the Hague has been carefully designed to convince the US president to continue supporting Europe's defence. However, the refusal by Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain, to commit to a new defence spending target of 5 per cent of GDP has jeopardised the carefully choreographed diplomacy.
Mr Trump has threatened to withdraw US protection from allies which don't commit to the new target, which has been raised from 2 per cent amid fears over Russian aggression.
Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, has broad support for an increase in military spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2030 and 1.5 per cent of investment in defence-adjacent areas such as transport infrastructure and cyber security.
Mr Sánchez asked for Spain to be exempt from any spending target agreed next week or that the goal be made optional, even though Madrid has failed to meet even the original 2 per cent target.
The letter from Europe's most influential Left-wing leader is a blow for Mr Rutte and could embolden the few other members reluctant to sign up to the 5 per cent.
Germany and Poland are among the countries supporting the goal. Britain has committed to hit 2.5 per cent by 2027 but Sir Keir Starmer does not think the economy is strong enough to go above three per cent at this stage.
In his letter, Mr Sánchez said hitting the target would only be possible by raising taxes on the middle class and cutting public services.
The socialist premier said a 'rushed' effort to hit 5 per cent would damage economic growth and could force his government to slash net zero and development aid budgets.
'The empirical reality is that, for Spain, as for other Nato countries, reaching 5 per cent defence spending will be impossible unless it comes at the cost of increasing taxes on the middle class, cutting public services and social benefits for their citizens,' he wrote.
He added that diverting money from education, technology and healthcare would cost the Spanish economy, as well as increase debt and inflation.
In 2024, Spain spent just 1.28 per cent of GDP on defence, which has drawn criticism from the US president.
Mr Sánchez claimed Spain was committed to the 2 per cent target but wanted the scope widened to include the fight against climate change and illegal migration.
He has announced more than €10 billion of fresh defence investment to hit the 2 per cent target this year.
But he faces a balancing act of aligning with Nato allies and cajoling his junior coalition partner, the far-Left alliance Sumar, which is hostile to increasing military spending.
Mr Sánchez has taken swipes at Mr Trump and his political allies such as Javier Milei, the president of Argentina.
Spain's formal recognition of Palestine and criticism of Israel will have won it no favours with the White House and neither will its liberal transgender rights laws.
Mr Trump will be handed a one-page communiqué to sign off at the Nato leaders' summit in a concession to his short attention span and as part of an effort to head off a spending row between Europe and the US.
Nato has cut back the 32-leader strong summit to just one working session of two and a half hours dedicated to the spending target.
Strategic shortening of summit
The meeting was originally meant to last three days, but shortening it will prevent Mr Trump from leaving early, as he did at the G7 meeting in Canada this week.
Mr Trump's departure, ostensibly to respond to Israel's strikes on Iran, meant he missed talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president.
Sources have claimed he left because he was angered Emmanuel Macron, the French president, had visited Greenland on his way to Canada. Mr Trump has said he wants to buy the Arctic Island, but Mr Macron declared that the Danish autonomous territory was 'not for sale'.
Mr Zelensky has been invited to a dinner of Nato leaders on Tuesday night hosted by the King and Queen of the Netherlands, but will not take part in the summit.
The US has ruled out future Nato membership for Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine said on Thursday that they had completed another exchange of captured soldiers, part of a deal reached earlier in June at peace talks in Istanbul.
'Our people are returning home from Russian captivity,' Mr Zelensky said on social media.
Fighting between Iran and Israel could deflect global attention from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and even bolster the Kremlin's war effort, Ukrainian officials say.
The conflict has pushed up the price of oil – a key revenue stream funding Russia's invasion.
However, Kyiv has welcomed Israeli attacks on Iran, which has directly aided and provided weapons to Moscow for its own strikes on Ukraine.