NATO agrees to increase defense spending to 5% after Trumps demands, Spain says its opting out

BRUSSELS/MADRID, June 22 (Reuters) – NATO members agreed on Sunday to a big increase in their defence spending target to 5% of gross domestic product, as demanded by U.S.President Donald Trump, but Spain said it did not need to comply just days before a summit in The Hague meant to be a show of unity.NATO officials had been anxious to find consensus on a summit statement on a new spending commitment ahead of Wednesday’s gathering.

But Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared on Thursday he would not commit to the 5% target.NATO boss Mark Rutte has proposed to reach the target by boosting NATO’s core defence spending goal from 2% to 3.5% of GDP and spending an extra 1.5% on related items like cyber security and adapting roads and bridges for military vehicles.After diplomats agreed on a compromise text on Sunday, Sanchez swiftly proclaimed Spain would not have to meet the 5% target as it would only have to spend 2.1% of GDP to meet NATO’s core military requirements.“We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defence investment, but we are not going to do so,” Sanchez said in an address on Spanish television.Spain spent 1.24% of GDP on defence in 2024, or about 17.2 billion euros ($19.8 billion), according to NATO estimates, making it the lowest spender in the alliance as a share of its economic output.NATO officials argue big defence spending increases are needed to counter a growing threat from Russia and to allow Europe to take on more responsibility for its own security as the United States shifts its military focus to China.Sanchez’s stance risked setting up a summit clash with Trump, who has frequently accused European countries of not spending enough on defence and threatened not to defend them if they do not meet their targets.On Friday, Trump said Spain “has to pay what everybody else has to pay” and Madrid was “notorious” for low defence spending.However, he also suggested the U.S.should not...