U.S. President Donald Trump said on October 9 that because Spain refused to significantly increase military spending, it should be considered to kick Spain out of NATO. Previously, under U.S. pressure, NATO pledged to increase the share of annual defense spending in the GDP from the current 2% to 5%.

During a visit to the White House, President Trump said that Spain "has no reason not to do so" and that it should be "pulled out of NATO" and that he also called on European leaders to put pressure on Spain, "to call and ask why they are always dragging behind their legs."

At the NATO summit in June this year, member states pledged to gradually increase their annual defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035.Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez, who signed the summit declaration, insisted onining its defence spending at the current level of 2.1% of GDP.

In this regard, Trump has threatened to make Spain pay the price for refusing to further increase military spending in trade negotiations. According to Spanish media reports in August, the Spanish military has "completely shelved" plans to purchase F-35 stealth fighter jets from the United States.

The Trump administration has been asking other NATO members to increase the proportion of defense spending in GDP to 5%, claiming that Europe cannot be allowed to "ride the US car" on defense issues, which has caused strong dissatisfaction among many allies. However, NATO data shows that the United States will account for 3.4% of military spending in 2024. Trump claimed that the United States did not have to abide by the 5% target, but at the same time asked other allies to fulfill their obligations.