NATO: US exempts itself from responsibility with target of spending 5% GDP on defense, other members do not

The US exempts itself from NATO's target of spending 5% of GDP on defense. (Source: AA)

Referring to other NATO member states, the US leader asserted: “I don't think we should do that, but I think they should do that… We have supported NATO for so long, in many cases, I believe we have paid almost 100% of the cost.”

Mr Trump also criticised Spain for being “notorious” for spending too little on defence and called on Madrid to pay what other NATO member states spend on the Spanish military.

Previously, on June 19, Spanish National Television ( TVE ) reported that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sent a letter to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to express his opposition to raising the alliance's defense spending target to 5% of GDP, saying that this proposal was "unreasonable" for Madrid.

“For Spain, committing to a target of 5% of GDP is not only unreasonable, but also counterproductive,” Mr. Sanchez wrote in the letter.

The statement comes as NATO prepares for an upcoming summit.

The Spanish Prime Minister's press office did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, according to the Financial Times , NATO has decided to shorten the time of the NATO leaders' summit scheduled to take place next week, to avoid the possibility of US President Donald Trump leaving the conference early as happened at the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Canada.

Specifically, the above newspaper quoted a well-informed source as saying that NATO has decided to shorten the time of the NATO Leaders' Summit (including heads of state and heads of government) in The Hague (Netherlands), down to only one working session lasting about 2.5 hours, instead of lasting 3 days as originally planned.

NATO has not yet made an official announcement on this issue.