Finland Trump proposes Spain's exclusion from Nato
In the dispute over Nato defense spending, US President Donald Trump has suggested excluding Spain from the alliance. The country is a "laggard", he criticized on Thursday at a meeting with Finnish President Alexander Stubb in the White House.
10.10.2025, 08:26
SDA
Trump was referring to the refusal of the government in Madrid, unlike the other NATO members, to pledge an increase in defense spending to five percent of gross domestic product.
"They have no excuse not to do that. Maybe they should be kicked out of NATO, frankly," Trump added.
However, the alliance has no procedure in place that provides for sanctions or even expulsion in the event of undesirable behavior.
Spain's socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described the five percent target in June as "not only unreasonable, but even counterproductive". Such high spending on the military is incompatible with Spain's welfare state and world view. Instead, the EU's fourth-largest economy wants to keep its spending at 2.1 percent of GDP.
