NATO Yields to Trump's Demands as Spain Holds Its Ground

NATO appeared to bow to Donald Trump's demands for member states to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, while Spain remained the lone holdout against the proposal.

Though the Atlantic Alliance's summit officially began last night in this Dutch city, debates have raged for days over Trump's push to raise military budgets to 5%—a move firmly rejected by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

In a televised address Sunday from Madrid, Sánchez claimed NATO had agreed to a modest 2.1% spending increase. But Secretary General Mark Rutte later walked back that assertion under pressure from the U.S. leader, who openly criticized Sánchez.

Rutte confirmed Wednesday that all NATO members would eventually have to accept the 5% target, stating bluntly: "It's not a question of if, but when."

In Madrid, Socialist parliamentary spokesman Patxi López defended Sánchez's stance as "the only commonsense position in NATO," arguing that Trump's 5% demand was "an arbitrary ploy" that would "blow up any nation's budget."

Trump fired back upon arriving in The Hague, declaring yesterday that "Spain has become a problem" for the alliance due to its refusal to commit to higher military expenditures.

López countered: "Spain and our prime minister are advocating the most reasonable position in this summit. Trump's arbitrary 5% threshold would wreck national budgets across the board."