<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The first day of the NATO Summit in The Hague, one of the most decisive in recent years, made US President Donald Trump's position clear regarding Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's refusal to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP, a position defended by the US president himself and by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.</strong></h4> In statements to US journalists accompanying him on the presidential plane as he headed to The Hague (as reported by Reuters), Donald Trump asserted that NATO has "a problem" with Spain because of its stance on defense spending. "It's not fair that American taxpayers pay more than Europeans for collective defense," he insisted. Trump subsequently published a chart on Truth Social showing NATO countries' defense spending, highlighting that the United States is approaching $1 trillion in military investment, far exceeding that of its allies. In his message, Trump indicated his intention to discuss this imbalance with the other members of the Alliance. Furthermore, the chart compares spending as a percentage of GDP, placing Spain in last place with just 1.28%, far from the 5% Trump is demanding. It also reflects, in one of its margins, the positions of Mark Rutte, who proposes a target of 3.5%, and Pedro Sánchez, who believes that level would be incompatible with the Spanish welfare system. <div class="lRu31" dir="ltr"><span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">However, although Trump warned that Spain could "break" the NATO consensus, two other member states, Belgium and Slovakia, announced on Tuesday that they would also oppose the imposition of the 5 percent tariff.</span></span></span> <div class="OvtS8d"></div> <div id="ow789">At the opening of the NATO Public Forum 2025 (the first event of the Summit), Mark Rutte addressed The Hague Investment Plan, approved by defense ministers, which sets a target for allies to allocate 3.5% of their core public spending to defense. He warned that this investment is key because "if we want to avoid war, we must spend more. Peace through strength."</div> </div> He warned that Russia is rearming at a "truly alarming" rate and that if NATO does not act now, "we will not be able to defend ourselves in three to five years." He also emphasized that the defense industry "finally knows what we need" and that countries such as Germany, Sweden, and Norway have already announced that they will meet their spending targets before 2030. Regarding doubts about the United States, Rutte was emphatic: "Yes, they are with us. But they also expect us to do our part." He also rejected the alarmism about a possible US withdrawal and called on Europeans to stop worrying and focus on strengthening their capabilities. <h5><strong>Sánchez's challenge</strong></h5> Sánchez is participating in a Summit over the next two days, where he will have to overcome pressure from Trump, Mark Rutte, and other allies to increase Spain's defense and security spending to five percent of GDP. Sources from Moncloa informed The Diplomat this Tuesday that Pedro Sánchez has no meeting planned with the US president. Last Sunday, the President of the Government confirmed that he had reached an agreement with NATO to make defense spending more flexible and, therefore, to avoid requiring Spain to reach five percent of GDP. "The agreement we have reached today is good for Spain and for NATO as a whole" because "it will allow us to fulfill our commitments to the Atlantic Alliance without having to increase our defense spending to 5% of GDP," Sánchez announced in a statement to the media from Moncloa Palace. The agreement, reached after several negotiations, will allow for modifications to the declaration of the Summit, which will take place this week in The Hague. Separately, Mark Rutte responded that same day to Sánchez in a letter stating that the NATO Summit "will grant Spain the flexibility necessary to determine its own sovereign path to achieving the capability objective." However, Rutte himself assured the following day in a press conference that "NATO has no 'exemptions' or parallel agreements" and warned that, although Spain "believes it can meet the military capability objectives with a spending of 2.1% of GDP," NATO believes that our country should allocate at least "around 3.5%." "However, we trust that Spain will meet these targets," he added. Last week, Sánchez sent a letter to Rutte stating that "Spain cannot commit to a specific spending target relative to GDP at this Summit" because spending of 2.1 percent is sufficient to "acquire and maintain all the personnel, equipment, and infrastructure requested by the Alliance" in the "current Capability Target packages approved by our defense ministers in June 2025." Separately, the President of the Government argued that a hasty increase of 5 percent would negatively affect the development of the “industrial base” and economic growth and “could be incompatible with our welfare state and our worldview.” “In the current context, and in accordance with the Capability Targets recently agreed upon with NATO, for us, balance means allocating 2 percent of our GDP to defense and security, while continuing to invest in diplomacy, trade, welfare policies, and development aid,” Sánchez asserted. Therefore, the Prime Minister proposed in his letter “that a more flexible formula be included in this year's declaration, a formula that recognizes each ally's path to achieving their respective capability targets and makes the spending target optional, or a formula that excludes Spain from the application of the spending target.” The day after the letter was made public, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt insisted that both Spain and “all European countries” must allocate 5 percent. of its GDP to defense and security spending. According to Leavitt, Trump “has made his priorities very clear to our European allies, including Spain.” “I haven’t seen Spain’s comments; I’ll make sure the president sees them,” she added, regarding Pedro Sánchez’s letter to Mark Rutte. <h5><strong>The Summit</strong></h5> The first day of the Summit included a dinner hosted by the King and Queen of the Netherlands for the heads of state and government participating in the NATO Summit at the Huis Den Bosch Royal Palace in The Hague. At this dinner, Sánchez—who is traveling accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares—met with Trump and the other leaders. <div class="lRu31" dir="ltr"><span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">At the same time, two closed-door meetings were held: the NATO-Ukraine Council meeting in the format of foreign ministers, chaired by the NATO Deputy Secretary General, and the North Atlantic Council working dinner in the format of defense ministers, chaired by the Dutch Minister of Defense.</span></span></span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div class="lRu31" dir="ltr">On Wednesday, Sánchez and Trump will meet again at the welcome ceremony and the family photo of the heads of state and government of the NATO member states, and at the subsequent meeting of the heads of state of the North Atlantic Council (NAC). The day will conclude with a press conference by the President of the Government.</div>
