President Donald Trump recently warned Spain that he might hit the country with new tariffs unless it raises its defense spending to 5% of its GDP. This is part of Trump’s bigger effort to get NATO allies to keep their defense promises, and it’s been working pretty well in his second term.
The threat to Spain is just the latest example of Trump putting pressure on NATO members to spend more on their own defense. Way back in 2006, NATO allies agreed to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. The Obama administration got an updated deal in 2014 that set 2024 as the deadline for all members to hit this goal. However, when Trump first took office in 2017, only five out of 28 NATO nations had actually done it.
During his first term, Trump and his national security team pushed hard on this issue. According to Fox News, by 2021, the number of NATO members doing so had doubled and allied military spending increased considerably. Now, aided by the ongoing war in Ukraine and European concerns about Vladimir Putin, Trump has achieved what many thought impossible: “convince our NATO allies to spend a whopping 5% of their GDPs on defense!”
Going From 2% To 5% Is A Huge Jump For Any Country
The 5% defense spending target is a really big increase from the original 2% goal. To put it in perspective, most NATO countries had a hard time just getting to the 2% mark for years. The new target basically asks countries to more than double their defense budgets, which would mean big changes in how they spend their money.
Trump got allies to agree to this higher number during a NATO Summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. The timing helped him out, since the war in Ukraine and worries about Russian President Vladimir Putin have made European countries more ready to spend money on their military.
The president’s style has gone beyond just defense spending. His team has also been pushing countries to keep their trade promises, using tariffs and other tools when they need to. China has been a big target, with the article pointing out that “the PRC notably never purchased the $200 billion in additional U.S. exports it had promised” during Trump’s first term.
It’s not clear yet if Trump’s tariff threat will work on Spain. But looking at how he got NATO allies to spend more on defense shows he might have found a good way to push other countries to keep their promises.
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Published: Oct 24, 2025 02:30 pm