<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>US President Donald Trump has proposed expelling Spain from NATO for its refusal to raise defense spending to 5%, a path not provided for in the Alliance Treaty itself, which establishes voluntary withdrawal as the only procedure for doing so. Pedro Sánchez's government has reacted by recalling that "Spain is a full and committed member of NATO" and calling for "maximum calm."</strong></h4> "I asked for them to pay 5 percent, not 2 percent, and most people thought that wasn't going to happen, and it happened practically unanimously," Trump told the press during Finnish President Alexander Stubb's official visit to the White House. "We had a laggard, which is Spain," he admitted. “We should call them and find out why they're lagging behind,” but “they're doing well, and they're doing well, I think, because of many of the things we've done for them,” he continued. Therefore, he warned, “they have no excuse” for not increasing military spending. “Maybe Spain should be expelled from NATO, frankly,” he concluded. In response to these remarks, sources from Moncloa warned <em>The Diplomat</em> that “Spain is a full and committed member of NATO” and that “it meets its capacity objectives just as much as the US.” “So, we should remain calm,” they added. This is not the first time Trump has attacked Pedro Sánchez's government for its refusal to increase military spending during the NATO Summit in The Hague, held last June. On that occasion, the US president threatened to make Spain pay "double" in tariffs, but Sánchez himself, in his response, pointed out that trade negotiations between Spain and third countries are the responsibility of the EU as a whole, in its capacity as a single market, and therefore, the United States cannot impose differentiated tariffs on one of its member states. In this case, Trump's words have once again clashed with international treaties. In fact, the NATO Treaty does not contain any formal procedure for expelling a member state, and according to Article 13 of the text, the only way to leave the Alliance is through voluntary withdrawal by the allied country itself through formal notification to the United States government, a procedure that no country has used to date. Regarding Trump's statements, the president of the People's Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, wrote on social media that "the problem is not Spain. Spain is a credible, proud, and committed partner of NATO. And we will continue to be. The problem is Sánchez." "He's not trustworthy, but that shouldn't drag the country down. Our nation doesn't have to pay for his frivolity and irresponsibility. We know who our allies are. Spain won't leave NATO. Sánchez will leave La Moncloa," he concluded.
