Trump suggests Spain should be 'thrown out' of NATO over defence expenditure disagreements

US President Donald Trump suggested that Spain should be “thrown out” of NATO as he met with his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb in the White House on Thursday.

The meeting, supposed to be the prelude to Finland’s purchasing of US icebreaker ships, steered into a discussion on the defence alliance, as Trump looked to reignite his months-long feud with the Iberian nation over disagreements on defence spending.

Trump has long clashed with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez since late June’s NATO summit in The Hague, where just days before the alliance’s leaders convened, Sanchez announced that Spain, will not be complying with Trump’s demands of increasing defence spending to 5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), up from previous targets of 2%.

“As you know, I requested that they pay five percent, not two percent. And most people thought that was not going to happen, and it happened virtually unanimously. We had one laggard. It was Spain. Spain,” said Trump.

“You have to call them and find why are they a laggard, and they're doing well, too.”

The US president lashed out in an otherwise friendly Oval Office meeting, suggesting the country should be booted from the organisation.

“You know the funny thing? Because of a lot of the things we've done, they're going fine. They have no excuse not to do this, but that's all right. Maybe you should throw them out of NATO, frankly,” Trump added.

He’s previously stated that Washington was no longer willing to allow Europe to “piggyback” on its military strength, stressing that every NATO country has to “pull its weight” and contribute fairly to its defence.

During the meeting, Stubb and Trump formally approved a deal which would see the sale of 11 medium icebreakers to Helsinki, expected to cost around $6.1 billion (€5.27 billion). Washington aims to deliver the first of the fleet by 2028.

It comes as Finland looks to bolster its defences as the threat of Russian interference continues to loom, following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour Ukraine in February 2022. Finland shares the longest land border with Russia of any EU country.

The pair then spoke and joked about Trump’s prospects of winning a Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, as nominations from world leaders for his winning of the prestigious prize continue to grow.

“Well, I don't know. Look, I made seven deals and now it's eight. Solved the wars, one going 31 years, one going 34 years, one going 35 years, one going 10 years. I made 7 deals. This would be number 8,” said Trump.

“But they'll (Nobel committee) have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this. I didn't do it for that. I did it because I saved a lot of lives,” he continued.

Stubb was also asked to comment on the US president’s chances, to which he said he believed Trump could potentially do it.

“Well, I think that's probably a decision that comes from the Nobel Committee. And my take is that there are two key pieces that have to be solved in the big picture,” said Stubb.

“One is in the Middle East, and we're seeing the results of that. And then the other one is between Russia and Ukraine. And once those are solved, you know, I don't see any impediments to it.”

Four US presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. Trump is looking to become the first Republican president since Roosevelt to secure the award in more than 100 years.