Spain threatens to derail NATO summit

Spain’s resistance to Donald Trump’s demand that allies boost their defence spending to 5% of GDP risks disrupting a high-stakes NATO summit aimed at placating the U.S. president


Trump: Threatens to stop protecting allies that don’t commit to spend 5%

Mark Rutte: NATO chief proposes to raise spending to 3.5% and commit further 1.5% to wider security spending

Pedro Sanchez: Spanish Prime Minister warns new goal would be incompatible with country’s welfare state

2% of GDP: NATO’s current target agreed at 2014 summit

DEFENCE EXPENDITURE, 2024 (% share of GDP*)

0
1
2
3
4
5

Poland
Estonia
U.S.
Latvia
Greece
Lithuania
Finland
Denmark
UK
Romania
N Macedonia
Norway
Bulgaria
Sweden
Germany
Hungary
Czechia
Türkiye
France
Netherlands
Albania
Montenegro
Slovakia
Croatia
Portugal
Italy
Canada
Belgium
Lux.
Slovenia
Spain

4.12
3.43
3.38
3.15
3.08
2.85
2.41
2.37
2.33
2.25
2.22
2.20
2.18
2.14
2.12
2.11
2.10
2.09
2.06
2.05
2.03
2.02
2.00
1.81
1.55
1.49
1.37
1.30
1.29
1.29
1.28

$ billions
35.0
1.4
967.7
1.4
7.7
2.3
7.3
9.9
82.1
8.6
0.4
10.6
2.3
13.4
97.7
4.9
6.8
22.8
64.3
21.5
0.5
0.2
2.8
1.6
4.6
34.5
30.5
8.5
0.8
0.9
21.3

Based on 2015 prices and exchange rates

Iceland, which does not have armed forces, excluded from list

Source: NATO
Pictures: Getty Images*
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