Trump Says Spain Will ‘Pay Twice As Much’ On Trade After NATO Defiance

President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened that Spain would have to “pay twice as much” in a future trade deal after the NATO member refused to commit to the alliance’s new target of spending 5% of its gross domestic product on defense and security.

“You’re the only country that is not paying. I don’t know what the problem is,” Trump said at the NATO summit in The Hague when questioned about Spain’s refusal to go along.

“You know what we’re gonna do? We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal. We’re going to make them pay twice as much. And I’m actually serious about that,” the president added.

NATO members agreed to increase defense spending from the current 2% level to 5% of their country’s gross domestic product by 2035. Spain was the only member that rejected this target, arguing that it would strain the country’s extensive welfare state.

“We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defense investment, but we are not going to do it,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said before the summit.

President Trump rips into Spain for refusing to increase NATO spending.

"I think Spain's terrible what they've done, they are the only Country that won't pay 5%" pic.twitter.com/WD5JGnc2WU

— Media Research Center (@theMRC) June 25, 2025

“They want a little bit of a free ride, but they’ll have to pay it back to us on trade, because I’m not going to let that happen. It’s unfair,” Trump said.

As a part of the European Union, Spain negotiates trade as part of the 27-member bloc, not individually, per Bloomberg. Still, Trump emphasized his intention to bypass the European Union’s regular trade negotiation protocols.

“I’m going to negotiate directly with Spain. I’m going to do it myself,” Trump insisted. “They’re going to pay, they’ll pay more money this way.”

The threat comes ahead of the Trump administration’s July 9 deadline for the European Union to agree to a trade deal. If no agreement is reached, tariffs on EU products imported into the United States are set to increase to 50%.

NATO members condemned Spain for rejecting the 5% target.

Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, whose country allocates a higher percentage of its GDP for defense than any NATO member, blasted Spain’s lack of commitment.

“We believe that any deviation from this principle by any member country is a bad example,” he said.

“It’s incredibly unfair to the alliance,” another NATO official said to POLITICO.

At the press conference on Wednesday, Trump said his outlook on NATO had changed. Previously critical of “freeloading” nations not paying their fair share in defense, he now believes the alliance is no longer a “rip-off” given the new 5% commitment. The increase is expected to significantly boost the alliance’s collective defense capabilities at a time of heightened global tensions, as the United States has historically shouldered more than two-thirds of NATO’s collective defense spending.