Moncloa replies to Trump that it complies with NATO "as much as the US."

Madrid"Maybe I should expel them," Donald Trump said Thursday from the White House, sitting next to Finnish President Alexander Stubb, to laughter from reporters. The following day, Spain's First Vice President, María Jesús Montero, joked that the US president "will be a little upset or disappointed" after the Nobel Peace Prize went to him.It was won by the anti-Chavez María Corina Machado—, despite the fact that his plan to stop the bombing of Gaza is making progress, as the Palestinians who were returning home in floods this Friday morning once the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed the entry into force of the ceasefire. In any case, Trump cannot expel Spain from NATO.

"Spain is a member state with the same rights as the US to participate and enjoy the best conditions in NATO," Montero stressed from Cádiz. "Maximum peace of mind. Spain meets its capacity objectives as much as the US," insisted sources from Moncloa. The 1949 Treaty of the Atlantic Alliance does not contemplate the possibility that some members could agree to expel another member, and only Article 13 establishes that a country can leave of its own volition after 20 years of the treaty's validity - which has been more than fulfilled - and one year after '.

In this sense, the Spanish Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, has made it clear that "there is no concern" and has framed Trump's statements in "a specific context," which she has not defined. "Trump should know that Spain is one of the most serious and reliable allies. While some say they will comply and we don't know if they will, Spain does comply with what it says," Robles emphasized in statements to the media. All NATO countries signed the commitment to 5% of GDP in military spending at the last summit, last June in The Hague, and Pedro Sánchez arrived having reached 2%. "The commitment for 2025 was 2% and we are doing it," Robles claimed. "We are a reliable ally and the US knows it. Our bilateral relations, particularly in the military sphere, are very special," the Minister of Defense added.

Prudence

At the Moncloa Palace, they don't want to add fuel to the fire with Trump's remarks. It's part of a diplomatic strategy that the Spanish government is trying to pursue with a scalpel, since under no circumstances is Spain considering a clash with one of the main players on the international stage. In a conversation with ARA, CIDOB expert Eduard Soler maintains that the Spanish government is acting with "prudence," and this is demonstrated when Sánchez ideologically confronts what Trumpism represents. -is useful to him as a political strategy—, but he does so "avoiding attacks ad personam, trying to depersonalize" and speaking of the "oligarchs" or the international far-right coalition.

That relations are not at their best, however, is evident. "The political distance does not help, nor does the fact that the ideological enemies of Moncloa, internal —Vox— or external —external —Israel— have for Israel— the United States," analyzes Soler. Precisely, the president of the Spanish far-right party, Santiago Abascal, expressed confidence this Friday that the US government "will be able to distinguish between Spain and the Sánchez government." Along the same lines, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, affirmed that "the problem is not Spain, the problem is Trump knows that "the irresponsibility of a president cannot drag down an entire nation."

In any case, Soler believes it's necessary to put the tensions between the two countries into perspective and asserts that the current situation is not one in which Trump considers Spain "hostile." The differences are not significant enough to "capture the president's attention," and the truth is that despite distancing himself from Spain with defense investment, there have been no retaliations. Proof of this is that just a few weeks ago, the US and Chinese delegations reached an agreement in Madrid for TikTok to continue operating in the United States. If Trump considered Spain a hostile country, he would not have chosen it as the venue for these negotiations.