
Image source, Getty Images
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- Author, Writing
- Author's title, BBC News World
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The president of the United States, Donald Trump, threatened commercial reprisals to Spain for refusing to increase their defense expenditure up to 5% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP), joining the commitment agreed by NATO countries.
The 32 members of the Atlantic Alliance agreed to reach that level by 2035 (3.5% for basic defense plus 1.5% in additional military spending) during the summit held on Tuesday and Wednesday in The Hague, Netherlands.
The president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, signed the statement but assured that his country will only reach 2.1% of GDP in defensive spending to allegedly obtained an guarantee of the Atlantic Alliance.
This caused Trump's anger, which at his press conference on Wednesday responded to Sánchez.
“They will pay more”
“You are the only country that you are not paying. I don't know what the problem is,” said the US president.
He assured that the United States will seek compensation for what he considers a lack of commitment from Spain with NATO.
Image source, Getty Images
“We are negotiating a commercial agreement with Spain. We are going to make you pay twice. And I say it seriously,” he proclaimed.
He added: “I will negotiate directly with Spain. I will do it myself (…) will pay more so.”
However, it is not clear how Washington could impose tariffs or other surcharges to Spain, whose foreign trade is managed within the framework of the European Union.
The EU is one of the commercial partners that is negotiating agreements with the United States government before July 9 enters into force a general increase in tariffs.
The 27 Member States do not negotiate the trade agreements, which are in charge of the European Commission, the EU executive arm.
Spain and NATO
Pedro Sánchez said this week having achieved an NATO endorsement to satisfy “in a timely manner” his commitments to the military capacities of the alliance spending only 2.1% of his GDP.
He argued that this is the figure advised by defense technicians so that Spain reaches the required technical contribution.
“It's enough and compatible with our social model,” he alleged on Wednesday in The Hague.
The NATO general secretary, Mark Rutte, responded, however, that the Spanish contribution “has to be 3.5 % as for all other allies”, in reference to the basic defense expense to which 1.5 % of additional military expenditure would be added.
Media present in The Hague highlighted the apparent distancing between Pedro Sánchez and the rest of NATO leaders, with whom he barely interacted in front of the cameras and from those who distanced himself when posing for the official photo.
Image source, Getty Images
For his part, Trump considered that “what Spain has done is terrible,” in response to a journalist's question about the European country.
He said that the Spanish economy is doing very well, “so I don't know what the problem is.”
He claimed that the Spaniards “are great people”, but it is the only country that refuses to pay, so he accused his government of love “that they get free” the reinforcement of the security umbrella of the alliance.
He said that the position of Spain is “unfair to NATO.”
The Hague Agreement
From Hague, the president of the United States said that the agreement to increase the defensive expenditure sealed on Wednesday will be known as the “Hague Defense commitment.”
He recalled that one of the main debate issues so far has been “the need for other NATO members to assume the responsibility of Europe's defense.”
Image source, Getty Images
Trump attributed the merit of the new agreement by stating that defense spending in NATO has increased by US $ 700,000 million since it began to demand more contributions from the other members in 2017.
He predicted that when the 32 alliance countries reach the target of 5% of their GDP, more than one billion dollars will be added to the common defense.
“It is a great victory for the United States, Europe and Western civilization,” he said.
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