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NATO The Hague Summit: Spain resists U.S. demands

Posted by Europe correspondent on

The Hague 25.06.2025 The NATO Summit on defense spending ended not in the way some might expected, especially after the words of the Secretary General of the Alliance Mark Rutte, who was sure that all members would take a pledge to spent five percent (5%) of the GDP on military needs. If before there was an impression of unity of the allies, it soon passed in fumes as President Trump lashed out Spanish Prime minister Socialist Pedro Sanchez for declining the requested structure of the national budget.

Ahead of the Hague Summit Sanchez announced that there would be an opt out for Spain.
He said Spain would meet the new capabilities targets agreed by NATO members in The Hague, however he considers its ongoing defence spending of 2% of gross domestic product as “sufficient, realistic and compatible with the welfare state”.

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Sanchez also reiterated these words after the Hague Summit conclusion.
“I hope that at tomorrow’s European Council in Brussels, we’ll talk less about percentages of GDP and more about joint production, joint purchases and interoperability,” Sanchez shared his expectation.

The concept initially denied by Mark Rutte, explaining there is no such an possibility in NATO as an ‘opt out’. The reaction of President Trump was much more severe. At press-conference offered before his departure to Washington D.C. he said that it was “terrible” that Spain wouldn’t commit to meeting the target by 2035.

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“You know they are doing very well. The economy is [doing] very well. And that economy could be blown right out of the water with something bad happening,” Trump said, switching to threats.

“You know what we’re going to do? We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal and we’re going to make them pay twice as much — and I’m actually serious about that. I like Spain … it’s a great place and they are great people, but Spain is the only country out of all of the countries that refuses to pay,” he continued.

“So, they want a little bit of a free ride, but they will have to pay it back to us on trade because I am not going to let that happen. It’s unfair,” Trump said, aligning his demands with the purpose of the Summit to ensure that Europe and Canada spend twice as much on their defence.

With the exception of Sanchez all the other 30 allies promised to raise defence related spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. For more than a decade that target was just 2%. Most European leaders were less protective of their welfare states, preferring to avoid any confrontation with the assertive U.S. President, who demanded to come together with one single goal to request Europe, and Canada to enlarge defence budgets. In pursue of his goal, previously he went so far as casting doubt of the U.S. commitment to the European allies.
However after the submission of the European leaders, in the final communique of the Summit the Americans have re-affirmed their devotion to the collective defence.

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Nato’s chief Mark Rutte heaped praise on Trump and gave him the credit: “America expects European allies and Canada to contribute more. And that is exactly what we see them doing.”

President Trump hailed it as a personal triumph, saying Nato was no longer a rip-off. “It’s a monumental win for the United States because we were carrying much more than our fair share. It was quite unfair actually. But this is a big win for Europe and for actually Western civilisation”.

Clearly The Hague Summit was an event conceived to keep new administration content with the European accommodating, acquiescent, compliant, and even submissive attitude. Still it has been unclear if the European economies can cope with the new ambitious goal, keeping the welfare state model intact.

Nato’s chief Mark Rutte tried hard to avoid Trump’s discontent: “America expects European allies and Canada to contribute more. And that is exactly what we see them doing.” His relentless attempts to please the U.S. President by offering hyperbolic compliments bore fruit.
Trump hailed the event as a personal triumph, saying NATO was no longer a rip-off. “It’s a monumental win for the United States because we were carrying much more than our fair share. It was quite unfair actually. But this is a big win for Europe and for actually Western civilisation”.
The question remains if Pedro Sanchez was a ‘black sheep’, or ‘white raven’? Or a very sincere man, who expressed what would happen afterwards: all the allies would pay as much as they consider feasible. The way they did it decades before, when attempting to meet the two percent target, promising to their powerful allies from the other side of the “big, and beautiful ocean” that they would do their absolute best.

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