MADRID: Spain hit back at Donald Trump on Friday after the US President suggested expelling the country from NATO for failing to meet his ramped-up defense spending target.
In June, the 32-nation military alliance agreed to massively boost defense spending to five percent of annual economic output over the next decade under pressure from Trump.
But Spain, which was NATO’s lowest defense spender in relative terms last year, insisted it would not need to hit the headline figure.
“We had one laggard, it was Spain,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday.
“They have no excuse not to do this, but that’s all right. Maybe you should throw them out of NATO, frankly.”
Government sources said on Friday that “Spain is a committed and full member of NATO. And it meets its capacity targets as much as the United States.”
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has argued that Spain should meet its capacity objectives rather than fixed spending targets, including cybersecurity and the environment in his calculations.
The Spanish opposition pounced on the stir caused by Trump’s remarks to criticize Sanchez late on Thursday.
The main conservative opposition’s leader, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, wrote on X that “Spain is a credible, proud member and committed to NATO. And we will remain so. The problem is Sanchez.”
“He can’t be trusted, but that should not hold the country back. Our nation should not have to pay for his frivolity and irresponsibility,” the Popular Party leader said.
Far-right leader Santiago Abascal, who heads Spain’s third-largest political force Vox, said on X that Sanchez “further destroys national interests and seriously harms our security.”
“Sanchez is the greatest calamity Spain has had in a long time.”
Spain says ‘committed to NATO’ after Trump expulsion threat
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Spain says ‘committed to NATO’ after Trump expulsion threat
French foreign minister says US military operations in Caribbean violate international law
- US officials said on Tuesday the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the Gerald Ford, had moved into the region, adding to the eight warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 aircraft already in the Caribbean
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Canada: France is worried about US military operations in the Caribbean because they violate international law, the country’s foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday.
The US military has carried out at least 19 strikes so far against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean and off the Pacific coasts of Latin America, killing at least 76 people.
“We have observed with concern the military operations in the Caribbean region, because they violate international law and because France has a presence in this region through its overseas territories, where more than a million of our compatriots reside,” Barrot said on the sidelines of the Group of Seven foreign ministers’ summit in Canada.
“They could therefore be affected by the instability caused by any escalation, which we obviously want to avoid.”
US officials said on Tuesday the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the Gerald Ford, had moved into the region, adding to the eight warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 aircraft already in the Caribbean.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly alleged that the US buildup is designed to drive him from power.
