Rubio presses Spain for 5% GDP defence boost
The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, urged his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares, during a meeting in Washington, to increase Spain's defence spending to 5% of GDP. Currently, Spain spends about 1.2% of its GDP on defence, the lowest in NATO.
"Urged Spain to join Allies in committing 5% of GDP to defence," Rubio wrote on the X portal after his meeting with Albares on Thursday.
In a statement from the State Department, it was noted that Rubio thanked the Spanish official for the increased defence spending to date. The government of Pedro Sánchez announced in recent weeks additional investments of €10 billion to reach defence spending of 2% of GDP by 2025, instead of - as previously aimed for - by 2029.
Albares emphasised after his 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 (NATO), deploying the largest number in its history of 2,300 soldiers there.
Call for quick achievement of 2% GDP
This is another instance where Washington is calling on Madrid to increase defence spending. US President Donald Trump, shortly after his inauguration in January, spoke of Spain's "very low" defence spending. At the end of March, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau urged Sánchez's government to quickly achieve the goal of 2% of GDP.
In mid-April, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke about the need to increase defence spending during a meeting in Washington with his Spanish counterpart, Carlos Cuerpo.
At the end of April, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte published a report for 2024 on the defence spending of member countries. According to this data, 22 out of 32 Alliance countries exceeded the 2% GDP threshold, with Poland leading the list, having allocated 4.07% of GDP to this purpose last year. Spain ranked at the bottom with 1.24%.
