"We're negotiating with Spain on a trade deal and we're going to make them pay twice as much," Trump said after the country refused to meet the spending target.

The dispute focuses on NATO’s demand that member countries boost their defence spending to 5% of GDP, a significant rise from the current 2%. Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and his government argue that it is more important to spend defence money wisely rather than simply spending more.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says that Spain reached a deal with NATO to be excluded from a 5% of GDP defense spending target