Spain Wins Exemption From NATO’s 5% Defense Spending Goal
A Spanish Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet on the runway during a NATO exercise.
Photographer: Hilary Swift/BloombergTakeaways by Bloomberg AI
Spain obtained an exemption from NATO’s ambitious defense spending target of 5% of GDP after several days of diplomatic wrangling that drew scorn from Donald Trump, right before leaders of the military alliance gather on Tuesday.
“We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries of increasing their defense investment but we won’t do it,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Sunday afternoon. The country can get defense expenditure up to 2.1%, “nothing more, nothing less.”