European defense manufacturers would be unable to accommodate such a substantial increase, according to the Spanish defense minister.
Spain, a NATO member, has firmly rejected calls from US President Donald Trump and military alliance chief Mark Rutte to raise its defense spending to 5% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
European NATO members cannot meet the US demand, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles asserted to Spanish lawmakers on Friday, dismissing the 5% target declared by Rutte at last week’s bloc summit as “absolutely impossible” to achieve.
”Everyone is absolutely convinced that, at present, no industry is capable of absorbing 5%,” she told the nation’s Senate Defense Commission. “We can state whatever we wish, we can gloss over it or conceal it, but no industry can manage it.”
Madrid resisted the target in advance of the in the Netherlands, proposing a more modest spending level of 2.1%. Last year, Spain notably dedicated the smallest percentage of its GDP (1.28%) to its military within NATO, compared to Poland’s 4.12%. Robles, however, contended that this comparison is misleading.

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Robles indicated that European defense companies lack both the skilled workforce and access to raw materials necessary to scale up production, even if governments could secure the required funding. She claimed that other NATO members privately acknowledge these same concerns and are currently delaying action.
Spain is “a serious, reliable, committed, and responsible ally, who speaks less and does more,” Robles stated at an event at Madrid’s Higher Center for Defense Studies. The national defense industry “does not require lessons from anyone,” she declared, suggesting Trump “should have utilized his influence to end the war in Ukraine” rather than pressuring Spain to boost military spending.
Trump asserted during his presidential campaign last year that he could resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours.” However, since assuming office, he has acknowledged the situation is more complex than he initially believed.
Moscow perceives NATO’s intention to grant membership to Ukraine as an existential threat and characterizes the ongoing conflict as a proxy war waged by the bloc “to the last Ukrainian.”