Donald Trump made his debut this Monday as president of the United States, signing a mountain of executive orders while informally answering questions from journalists in the Oval Office of the White House. One of them, did reference to the low defense spending of NATO countries such as France and Spain: “What can we expect from NATO countries that spend the least amount of money, like Spain?” asked a reporter.
The president’s response was especially confusing: “Spain’s contribution is very low,” he replied and then pointed out that Spain is a BRICS country, an acronym formed from the initials of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, emerging countries in whose group does not include Spain.
“Are they a BRICS country? Well, they are a BRICS country. Spain. Do you know what a BRICS country is? You’ll find out. But if the BRICS countries want to do that (perhaps referring to their alternative currency), that’s fine, but We are going to put at least a 100% tariff on business done with the United States. Do you know what BRICS is? You know what I’m saying. So this is not even a threat. In fact, since I made that statement, Biden said ‘Well, they’ve got us up to our necks.’ And I said, ‘No, we’ve got them up to their necks.'” That was President Donald Trump’s unintelligible response that everyone is talking about.
In response to the statements of the American president, Pedro Sánchez reminded him – after being asked in an interview on CNBC in the Swiss city of Davos – that Spain is the tenth largest contributor to NATO and that, in addition, it is committed to reaching two percent of GDP spending on defense by 2029, as the members of the Atlantic alliance committed to.
“But let me also say that during In the last 10 years we have increased our total defense investment by 70%“added the head of the Spanish Executive, demanding that this effort also be taken into consideration.
Furthermore, Sánchez has agreed with the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, on the importance of focusing not only on GDP spending, but also on participation in some missions, as the Spanish Navy does in different operations, in a way “far superior to the average in NATO”.
And, although NATO has its own military resources, it is the member countries who, together, constitute the majority of the organization’s military structure. But who are the member nations currently and how much does each one contribute?
The 2% rule: only eleven countries comply
Although member countries are not required to contribute an established minimum to the Alliance, in 2006 They all agreed to commit to 2% of GDP to defense spending to ensure the organization’s military readiness. However, this percentage is only an indicator of the political will of the countries.
In July 2023, only 11 countries were meeting this agreed objective, with the United States, with 860 billion dollars, being the one that represents the most investment (68% of total spending).
However, curiously, if the percentage of the country’s GDP is compared, the United States does not occupy first place in the classification, but rather second. He The country that spends the most on defense spending is Poland, with 3.9% of its GDPwhich amounts to 29.1 billion dollars.
* Countries that have national laws or agreements to comply with the 2% guideline
In total, eight of the 31 Member States contribute less than the agreed percentageaccording to the organization’s data: Spain is one of them. In fact, it is the state that contributes the least funding to defense in relation to GDP – in 2024 it contributed 1.28% of its GDP.
NATO budgets and financing
NATO’s budgets are classified into three: civil – which pays for the operation of the headquarters -, military – for the Integrated Command Structure -, and the Security Investment Program – intended for military infrastructure -.
Likewise, the annual value for their annual budgets and programs is about 3.3 billion euros, financing that comes in two forms: common financing and joint financing.
- Common financing: Allies pool their collective resources to deliver and execute key NATO programs and capabilities. In this case, Spain occupies the seventh position as the largest contributor.
- Joint financing: Joint financing agreements are established under the terms of a charter agreed upon by NATO. These costs vary in terms of the number of participating countries, cost-sharing agreements and management structures.
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