For months, Washington made Spain his example of disobedience within NATO. Trump came to threaten with punishment trade due to the “low” military spending, while Brussels and La Moncloa they defended their own pace of investment and warned that public accounts could not sustain an uncontrolled escalation. But behind that diplomatic struggle and there was something more to the reproaches exchanged. A “bill” that belittles both, and that reveals a very different story about how far Spain went to appease its most powerful ally. The tariff threat. It all started with an angry warning from the White House: Donald Trump, irritated for the rejection of Pedro Sánchez to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, publicly stated “punish” Spain with tariffs. The threat, which occurred after a summit with Javier Milei in Washington, marked a new level of political pressure on a historic ally. The American president accused Madrid of “taking advantage” of NATO protection without contributing enough and, in a mix of bravado and electoral calculation, he hinted that he could turn the budget dispute into a commercial front. Behind the rhetoric there was an intention deeper: force Europe to finance the containment of Russia with its own resources and, in the process, prop up the military industry United States. The answer. Neither the European Commission nor the Spanish Government took long to respond. Brussels remembered that trade policy is the exclusive competence of the Union and that any attempt to penalize a Member State would have consequences. Madrid, for its part, took pains to emphasize that its military spending had grown more than double in just seven years (from 0.98% of GDP in 2017 to 2% in 2025) and that the debate was not about spending more as a slogan, but about doing it with a strategic sense and within the real capabilities of the country. At the same time, Spain insisted that it contributes to collective deterrence and that its budget increase, although more gradual than that desired by Washington, is part of a structural modernization of its Armed Forces. However, between the lines, the tension reflected something further: the fear that North American demands would end up conditioning the industrial and technological orientation of European defense. The silent turn. And neither one thing nor the other. The diary El País has published figures that confirm what until recently was just intuition: Spain has purchased more American weapons in the last two years than in almost a century. Between 2023 and 2024, the Spanish Government ordered military material for more than 4,500 millions of euros to the United States, a quarter of everything acquired since 1950. The contracts include Patriot systems, MH-60R helicopters and auxiliary equipment that represents the largest volume of expenditure with a single supplier in the recent history of Spanish defense. According to the DSCA (Defense Security Cooperation Agency), sales to Spain reached 2,907 million of dollars in 2024 and 1,682 million the previous year. In other words: while Washington was publicly denouncing the lack of commitment, Madrid was carrying out one of the largest purchasing operations in its history, channeling billions into the US military industry. The geopolitical context. The rebound coincides with the new cycle of European rearmament after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the same one has shot the military budgets of all of NATO. In this context, Spain has accelerated the modernization of its forces with additional spending of 10,471 million of euros in 2025, advancing the goal of 2% of GDP by four years. To finance it, the Executive has resorted to zero interest loans, industrial modernization programs and R&D items, a financial framework that allows keep spending without reform general budgets. However, this expansion has a reverse: the strengthening of technological dependence on the United States, which is consolidating itself as the main supplier of critical systems and reducing the room for maneuver to advance European strategic autonomy. Budget pragmatism. If you also want, the contrast between the Trump threats and the flow contract record with American companies illustrates the balance that Spain has tried to maintain: resisting the public discourse of punishment while, in practice, meeting Washington’s strategic demands and covering its own operational shortcomings. The result could not be more paradoxical. In the eyes of NATO, Madrid meets faster than expected, and in the eyes of its European partners, it risks weakening efforts to consolidate a common industrial base. The movement also redefines the bilateral relationship with Washington, which goes from rhetoric of reproach to the pragmatism of the transaction: while the North American president shows political muscleyour industry reaps the benefits. A lesson. The truth is that the history of these two years reveals how defense decisions, beyond percentages and headlines, are a geopolitical currency. Spain has demonstrated the ability to respond to external pressures without breaking its internal narrative, but the long-term cost (dependency, industrial coherence and technological autonomy) has yet to be measured. Thus, in essence, the question is once again the same as always: whether Europe can rearm itself without falling back into the old pattern of industrial subordination that for decades fueled the transatlantic divide. Spain, with its purchasing record to the American “friend” and his sovereignty speechembodies that contradiction today: that of a continent that seeks independence, but keep buying their safety on the other side of the Atlantic. Image | Kelly Michaels, BORN In Xataka | The US no longer has to worry about Spain or the rearmament bill in Europe. Germany had a plan B In Xataka | Spain committed to investing 2% of GDP in Defense but is not looking for soldiers: it needs 96,000 qualified employees
