NATO Agrees to Boost Military Spending as Trump Praises Allies, but Criticizes Spain

NATO leaders agreed on Wednesday to a goal of spending 5 percent of their gross domestic product on defense. But that doesn’t mean each member nation will actually spend that much.

The difference lies in a bit of mushy diplomatic language that lets the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, claim that he delivered on President Trump’s spending demand. The brief and unanimously approved communiqué that NATO issued after leaders wrapped up their annual summit says that “allies” — not “all allies” — had agreed to the 5 percent figure.

“Most of them, I guess almost all of them, are going to be contributing now 5 percent,” Mr. Trump said.

But he lashed out at Spain, whose leaders had pushed for the wiggle room in the wording to avoid committing to the spending target. Spain spends about 1.28 percent of G.D.P. on defense, according to the most recent official figures available.

“Spain is terrible, what they’ve done,” Mr. Trump said. He added, “We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal; we’re going to make them pay twice as much. I’m actually serious about that.”

The tweaked language in the communiqué was the result of a compromise struck between Mr. Rutte and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain to gloss over the dispute and project unity at the short summit, held in The Hague.

Mr. Trump floated the 5 percent target, up from the current 2 percent, early this year in a push to have Europe and Canada spend more on their militaries instead of relying on the United States for security. At the time, few believed it was realistic, given that nine of NATO’s 32 member countries still had not reached the 2 percent spending pledge that was set in 2014.

Last weekend, Mr. Sánchez announced that “we’re not going to do it” and said that Spain would spend 2.1 percent of its G.D.P. on defense, “no more, no less,” because that was all his country needed to meet military capability targets set by NATO.

As Mr. Trump was speaking, Mr. Sánchez held a separate news conference in which he thanked Mr. Rutte and “all the allies for their respect for Spain’s sovereignty and their willingness to understand each other and reach an agreement.” He maintained the need — as have other countries — to balance domestic priorities with defense.

“NATO wins, Spain wins, and it wins something very important for our society, which is security and our welfare state,” Mr. Sánchez said.

It’s not clear how Mr. Trump could punish Spain through trade. The United States is negotiating a trade deal with the entire European Union, of which Spain is a member, and not individual countries within the bloc.

The wiggle room opened up by the “allies” wording emboldened other countries that have struggled to meet NATO’s spending targets.

“There are no special treatments for any member state — it is the same text, and if the interpretation of Spain is correct, anybody can interpret the text in the same way,” Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, said on Wednesday.

He did not rule out spending 5 percent, adding that “we’re planning to do more.” But, Mr. De Wever said, he understood the “budgetary problems of his Spanish colleague, adding that “we’re almost in the same situation.” Belgium spends about 1.3 percent of its G.D.P. on defense.

The prime minister of Luxembourg, Luc Frieden, also stopped far short of committing to the 5 percent goal. Luxembourg now spends about 1.29 percent, according to the latest data.

“Our goal is to continue to increase our collective effort in the years to come,” Mr. Frieden said.

The spending plans will be reviewed in 2029, and allies would have until 2035 — long after Mr. Trump has left office — to meet the 5 percent spending goal.

Mr. Rutte credited Mr. Trump for forcing what he has called a long-overdue discussion on military spending.

“Countries have to find the money,” he said on Wednesday. “It’s not easy. These are political decisions. I totally recognize that. But at the same time, there is absolute conviction with my colleagues at the table that, given this threat from the Russians, given the international security situation, there is no alternative.”

José Bautista contributed reporting from Madrid.