President Donald Trump issued a blunt warning to Spain on Wednesday, vowing to make the country “pay twice as much” in a future trade deal after it refused to sign onto NATO’s new 5% defense spending target.
Speaking at the NATO summit in The Hague, Trump criticized Spain for being the only member state to reject the landmark agreement.
“You’re the only country that is not paying. I don’t know what the problem is,” Trump said. “You know what we’re gonna do? We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal. We’re going to make them pay twice as much. And I’m actually serious about that.”
Trump’s comments come after 30 NATO nations agreed to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035—more than double the previous 2% target. Spain stood alone in opposition, citing the strain it would place on its bloated welfare state.
“We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defense investment, but we are not going to do it,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said.
President Trump rips into Spain for refusing to increase NATO spending.
“I think Spain’s terrible what they’ve done, they are the only Country that won’t pay 5%” pic.twitter.com/WD5JGnc2WU
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) June 25, 2025
Trump made it clear that there would be consequences for freeloading.
“They want a little bit of a free ride, but they’ll have to pay it back to us on trade, because I’m not going to let that happen. It’s unfair,” he said.
Although Spain negotiates trade as part of the European Union, Trump dismissed the EU’s process entirely.
“I’m going to negotiate directly with Spain. I’m going to do it myself,” Trump said. “They’re going to pay, they’ll pay more money this way.”
The remarks come as the Trump administration’s July 9 deadline approaches for the European Union to finalize a new trade agreement. Without a deal, U.S. tariffs on European imports are set to rise to 50%.
Spain’s refusal sparked backlash from other NATO leaders. Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister W?adys?aw Kosiniak-Kamysz—whose country spends more of its GDP on defense than any other NATO member—called Spain’s stance “a bad example.”
“It’s incredibly unfair to the alliance,” another NATO official said.
Trump, long a critic of NATO’s uneven burden-sharing, said the alliance is finally correcting course.
“It’s no longer a rip-off,” he said. “With this 5% commitment, NATO will be stronger than ever—and America won’t be footing the bill alone.”