Trump proposed to "kick out of NATO" Spain, which has insufficient defense spending

US President Trump said that as Spain refuses to significantly increase its military expenditure, it should be considered to "kick Spain out of NATO". Previously, under pressure from the United States, NATO promised to increase the proportion of its member states' annual defense spending in their gross domestic product (GDP) from the current 2% to 5%.

Bloomberg reported that Trump said when meeting with Finnish President Stub in the Oval Office of the White Palace on Thursday (October 9) that Spain "has no reason not to do so" and "perhaps you should kick it out of NATO".

Trump told Stubb, "Spain - you have to call and ask them why they always hold them back?" This is Trump's latest attack on Spain.

At the NATO summit in June this year, NATO member states committed to gradually increasing their annual defense spending as a proportion of GDP to 5% by 2035. Although Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez signed the summit declaration, he still insisted on maintaining the country's defense spending at the current level, which is 2.1% of GDP.

In response to this, Trump once threatened to make Spain pay the price for refusing to further increase military spending in trade negotiations. Spanish media reported in August that the Spanish military has "completely put on hold" its plan to purchase F-35 stealth fighter jets from the United States.

The Trump administration has been demanding that other NATO member states increase the proportion of defense spending in GDP to 5%, claiming that Europe should not be allowed to "hitch a ride" on defense issues, which has aroused strong dissatisfaction among many Allies.

NATO data shows that the United States' military expenditure will account for 3.4% in 2024. Trump claimed that the United States does not need to abide by the 5% target, but at the same time he demanded that other Allies must fulfill their obligations.