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US President Donald Trump floated the idea that Spain could be removed from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in his latest blow against persistently low defense spending.
“Spain – you have to call them and find out why they are lagging behind?”. Trump said this while talking to Finnish President Alexander Stubb in the Oval Office on Thursday. “And they’re doing well too, you know. They’re doing well because of a lot of the things we’ve done. There’s no excuse for them not to do it. But that’s all right.”
He said, “Frankly, maybe you should kick them out of NATO.”
Spain had earlier faced Trump’s ire when it rejected a US call to increase defense spending to 5% of national GDP at the NATO summit in June, becoming the only country in the alliance to reject the new target. At the time, Trump suggested he planned to double tariff rates on products sold to the US from Spain.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said that adhering to the new limit would cost hundreds of millions of euros in additional defense spending that would require cuts to health care and education. His office issued a statement Thursday hitting back at Trump’s comments.
“Spain is a full member of NATO and remains committed to NATO. It pursues its goals just like the United States,” the statement said.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to pull the US out of the defense alliance over other countries’ defense spending, though he has signaled more strong support in recent months as other countries have rallied around his 5% target.
There have been calls to expel countries from NATO before – including after Turkey acquired a Russian air defense system – but the treaty has no suspension or expulsion mechanism.
And while some scholars have argued that a NATO member could be expelled if the North Atlantic Council – the key decision-making body within the alliance – determines a country is in material violation of its treaty obligations, there is no indication that the US could do so unilaterally.
No country has ever left NATO, with Finland joining in 2023 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
And despite Trump’s comments, there is no direct way to expel a member. Any major decision must be agreed upon by all 32 members, although any country can withdraw at its own discretion, possibly under pressure from other alliance members.
Furthermore, Spain’s geography plays a key role in the alliance’s defense and the country has two major military bases that host US forces.
Pedro Sanchez’s caption in the main photo has been corrected.
With assistance from Natalia Drozdyk.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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