US President Donald Trump said he was dissatisfied with Spain over its decision not to increase defense spending to 5% and suggested imposing tariffs against the country, UNN reports.
I am very dissatisfied with Spain. They are the only country that has not increased its indicator to 5%. All other countries in NATO have increased to 5%. And Spain lives very well at our expense. Therefore, I am dissatisfied with Spain. Spain receives protection. And they are now, you know, as if in the middle of it. So they will be automatically protected. Even if you don't want to protect them, you protect them because of their geographical location. And I think Spain's action is very bad for NATO. I consider it very unfair to NATO. It wouldn't matter if you said you weren't going to protect them, because they are essentially protected. What are you going to do? Bypass other countries and go attack Spain, right? So I think they did wrong.
He noted that he considers Spain's decision not to increase defense spending to be very disrespectful to NATO.
In fact, I thought about imposing trade penalties on them because of what they did. And maybe I will. I consider it incredibly disrespectful. Spain is the only one of all NATO countries, the only one who said so, is Spain. And I think they should be punished for it.
Recall
US President Donald Trump proposed that NATO consider expelling Spain from the alliance due to the country's lagging defense spending.