U.S. urges spain to boost defense spending amid NATO goals
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged his Spanish counterpart, Jose Manuel Albares, during a meeting in Washington to increase Spain's defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Currently, Spain spends about 1.2 percent of its GDP on defense, which is the lowest in NATO.
"Urged Spain to join Allies in committing 5% of GDP to defense," Rubio wrote on X after Thursday's meeting with Albares.
In a State Department statement, Rubio thanked the Spaniard for the previous increase in defense spending. The government of Pedro Sanchez announced in recent weeks additional investments of €10 ($11) billion to reach a spending level of 2 percent of GDP by 2025, instead of—as previously planned—2029.
Albares stressed after the conversation with the American that achieving 2% was "an enormous effort" for Spain. He added that his country is participating in securing the eastern flank of NATO by deploying the largest-ever contingent of 2,300 soldiers there.
Call for a rapid achievement of 2 percent GDP
This is yet another instance where Washington calls on Madrid to increase its defense spending. U.S. President Donald Trump, shortly after his inauguration in January, spoke about Spain's "very low" defense spending. At the end of March, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau urged the Sanchez administration to quickly achieve the 2 percent GDP target.
In mid-April, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, during a meeting in Washington with his Spanish counterpart Carlos Cuerpo, spoke about the need to increase defense spending.
At the end of April, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte released a report for 2024 on the defense spending of member states. According to this data, 22 out of 32 Alliance countries exceeded the 2 percent GDP threshold, with Poland leading the list, having allocated 4.07 percent of GDP to this purpose last year. Spain was at the end of the list with 1.24 percent.
